The Scythians were warlike nomadic horsemen who roamed the steppe of Asia in the first millennium BC. Using archaeological finds from burials and texts, Barry Cunliffe reconstructs the lives of the Scythians, exploring their beliefs, burial practices, love of fighting and their flexible attitude to gender.

The Scythians: Nomad Warriors of the Steppe
Wed 18 Mar, 1–2pm
A weekday talk with Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford

Booking essential.
Tickets are: £8 (Full Price) / £7 (Concession) / £6 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/the-scythians-nomad-warriors-of-the-steppe

The Phoenicians were famously great traders who, from their base in modern-day Lebanon, traded their wares around the Mediterranean and beyond. Learn about their culture, art, achievements, and cities at home in the Levant and abroad, including Byblos, Tyre, Eshmoun and Carthage.

The Phoenicians Phoenicia Part 1: the Land of the Phoenicians
An Afternoon Tea Talk (with tea and biscuits included)
With Linda Farrar, Archaeologist and Lecturer

Thu 19 Mar, 2–4pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Tickets are: £12 (Full Price) / £11 (Concession) / £10 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/the-phoenicians-part-i-the-land-of-phoenicians

Moran’s ‘Autumn Afternoon, the Wissahickon’ pictures 19th-century America at its most bucolic and pastoral. It was painted, however, amidst a conflict that threatened to tear the young country apart. Examine Moran’s landscape as an allegory of contested national identity.

A Nation at a Crossroads: The United States in Thomas Moran’s ‘Autumn Afternoon, The Wissahickon’
A weekend talk with Madeleine Harrison, PhD Candidate, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Sat 21 Mar, 11–12pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Booking essential.
Tickets are: £8 (Full Price) / £7 (Concession) / £6 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/a-nation-at-a-crossroads-the-united-state-in-thomas-morans-autumn-afternoon-the-wissahickon

Learn about the vast trade network of the Phoenicians, the goods traded and their trading partners, who included the Greeks and Etruscans, as well as people in Sardinia and southern Spain.

The Phoenicians Phoenicia Part 2: The Phoenicians in the West
An Afternoon Tea Talk (tea and biscuits included)
With Linda Farrar, Archaeologist and Lecturer

Thu 26 Mar, 2–4pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Booking essential.
Tickets are: £12 (Full Price) / £11 (Concession) / £10 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/the-phoenicians-phoenicia-part-ii-the-phoenicians-in-the-west

Both worked on the outskirts of Pre-Raphaelitism and aestheticism, tackling ambitious subjects of love, spirituality, and time, to create beautiful artworks. Join De Morgan Curator, Sarah Hardy, to discover the previously ignored professional and personal relationship between these artists.

Evelyn de Morgan and Edward Burne-Jones: Friends or Foes?
An afternoon talk with Sarah Hardy, De Morgan Curator

Fri 27 Mar, 1–2pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Booking essential.
Tickets are: £8 (Full Price) / £7 (Concession) / £6 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/evelyn-de-morgan-and-edward-burne-jones-friends-or-foes

Organised by Oxford Civic Society @oxcivicsoc. The contest between modern architecture and its alternatives may never be resolved, but Alan Powers, academic and writer, makes the case for greater tolerance and renewed understanding of the ways in which buildings contribute to our enjoyment of places.. https://www.oxcivicsoc.org.uk/programme/

The city of Hereford stands a couple of hours from Oxford along one of the most scenic train rides in England. Follow the Medieval Pilgrim trail, discovering a landscape alive with holy wells, sacred shrines, ancient mysteries and miraculous saints.

Become a Medieval Tourist: Herefordshire Pilgrimages
With Tim Porter, Historian

Wed 15 Apr, 2–4pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Tickets are: £12 (Full Price) / £11 (Concession) / £10 (Members)
Includes a break for tea and biscuits
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/become-a-medieval-tourist-herefordshire-pilgrimages

One of the great triumvirate of High Renaissance masters, Raphael is famous for his calm serenity in even the most dramatic of his paintings. This year marks the 500th anniversary of his death, and Alice Foster re-evaluates the work of this celebrated artist.

Raphael
An Afternoon Tea Talk with Alice Foster, Art Historian

Wed 22 Apr, 2–4pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Tickets are: £12 (Full Price) / £11 (Concession) / £10 (Members)
Includes a break for tea and biscuits
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/raphael-tea-talk

Learn about the young Rembrandt’s rise to fame. A major breakthrough happened when the Prince of Orange, Frederick Henry, began to commission works from the artist, some of which are on display in the Young Rembrandt exhibition and are considered Rembrandt’s first masterpieces. This talk is part of our Young Rembrandt After Hours event.

Rembrandt and Orange
An after hours talk with Christiaan Vogelaar, Curator of Old Master Paintings and Sculpture, Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, Netherlands

Fri 24 Apr, 6–7pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Tickets are £8 (Full) / £7 (Concession) / £6 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/rembrandt-and-orange

A window into the intimate world of their makers, users and collectors, 18th- and 19th-century Greek embroideries have many stories to tell. Explore some of them through a selection of highlights on display in Gallery 29.

Mediterranean Threads: 18th- and 19th- Century Greek Embroideries
A Weekday Talk With Dr Francesca Leoni, Curator of Islamic Art

Fri 1 May, 1–2pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre

Tickets are: £8 (Full Price) / £7 (Concession) / £6 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/mediterranean-threads-18th-and-19th-century-greek-embroideries

Towards the end of the 15th century, Florence had become a centre of artistic achievement. Ghirlandaio, a master of both the fresco and innovative oil techniques, ran a prestigious workshop in which the young Michelangelo studied his unique style.

Ghirlandaio: A Florentine Master
Sat 2 May, 11–12pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre
With Juliet Heslewood, Art Historian and Author

Tickets are: £8 (Full Price) / £7 (Concession) / £6 (Members)
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/ghirlandaio-a-florentine-master

The Story of a Neglected Book: Hokusai’s Illustrated Tang Poetry of 1880
Mon 4 May, 5–6pm
Ashmolean Museum Lecture Theatre
With Dr Ellis Tinios, Visiting Researcher, Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University

Learn about a deluxe book, designed by Hokusai in the 1830s but not published until 1880, that demonstrates his extraordinary powers of composition, unerring sense of line, and ability to offer fresh and exciting visualisations of Chinese texts.

Booking essential.
RSVP at eastern.art@ashmus.ox.ac.uk
https://www.ashmolean.org/event/51st-cohn-memorial-lecture

Life-Writing Beyond Words is a research network and termly series of public events, hosted by Felix Appelbe, the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, and Ocean Ambassadors, that explores how we move between words and the non-verbal.

Life-writing is the study of lives, through letters, diaries, performance, memoir, autobiography and biography. But it frequently has to negotiate the non-verbal, for instance when describing the creative minds of composers, choreographers or artists, capturing the sound and light of childhood, or eavesdropping on the world of animal experience. How can these worlds be captured in words?

We are addressing this challenge by convening a network that spans many disciplines, bringing together academics, practitioners and performers who would otherwise not meet. Free-thinking lectures and laboratories will forge new pathways between the verbal and the non-verbal, journeying towards innovative experimental and performative methodologies.

5 – 5:10 Introduction by Felix Appelbe

5:10 – 5:50pm Louise Cournarie, Rameau le Moderne. Throughout his unusually long life, Jean Philippe Rameau has left an unerasable mark in Music, Theory, Science, Philosophy, and History. The composer/theorist, often referred to as the ‘father of modern harmony’, and who hated being called a composer, left behind him a forever changed view on music and a large body of work. In a time hugely influenced by the philosophy of Descartes, or the conferences of LeBrun, restlessly attacked by Rousseau, supported by D’Alambert and Voltaire, Rameau the musician and theorist underwent a long evolution. Through his keyboard pieces, this Lecture recital will attempt in having a closer look to the effect of this rich history on both the practice of Jean Philippe Rameau and his theory ideas.

5:50 – 6:30pm Alyn Shipton, How can we explore life-writing that does not use words? One possible answer is to examine both visual art and music for the ways in which we might see or hear biographical ideas. An obvious historical example would be the cycle of self-portraits by Rembrandt, that chronicle every stage of his life, and tell us through peripheral detail not only about the physical changes to Rembrandt the man, but to the environment in which he paints himself, and the clothes he wears. In his new book The Art of Jazz, Alyn Shipton explores the connections between the visual arts and jazz in the first hundred years of the music. Drawing on this unique body of research, Alyn explores how the lives of those in the jazz world have been depicted in music and in painting, drawing, graphics and sculpture. We can see how the image of Miles Davis changed over time, including his own work as a painter; we see how different photographers presented the “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith and how she translated the African American experience into song, and using excerpts from his work as an oral historian, Alyn shows how Sonny Rollins used the personal experience of racism in the housing market to inspire his “Freedom Suite”.

6:30 – 7:30pm Roundtable discussion, chaired by Kate Kennedy, on the theme Never the same twice

The FinCEN Files investigation, coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, exposed more than $2 trillion in suspicious deals.

Criminals, politicians and others sent money through the world’s major banks, which initially ignored red flags or reported the money as potentially dirty after weeks, months or years of delay. Billions of dollars in suspicious deals moved from Africa into Europe, the United States, the Middle East and secretive tax havens, including payments to and from politicians and family members, state-owned oil and gas companies, arms companies and many others.

Join William Fitzgibbon and Augustin Armendariz, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and Taiwo Hassan Adebayo, Premium Times Nigeria, as they discuss with Professor Ricardo Soares de Oliveira what the FinCEN Files investigation has uncovered and the implications.

Lecture by Hanna Zembrzycka-Kisiel, Principal Major Applications Officer at
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse Councils. Hanna uses the research
insights of her recent MA Thesis to explore the reality of poor urban design
and the benefits of green spaces in our living environments, drawing on local
and international urban design projects for inspiration. Book online or pay at the door.

Sir Edward Maufe (1882-1974) was one of the 20th century’s most prolific British architects. His best known work, Guildford Cathedral, was completed in 1962. He also designed many churches and country houses, and made significant additions to Oxford and Cambridge colleges. Maufe was a major architect for the reconstruction of the war-damaged Inns of Court. During WWII he became Principal Architect to the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, designing British Memorials, including the Air Forces Memorial to the Missing at Runnymede.

Juliet Dunmur is an Oxford University geography graduate, who after working in town planning at the LCC, completed a research degree in conservation and planning. In her subsequent career, she has edited and written for health publications and was a member of the Mental Health Tribunal Service for twelve years, as well as serving a term on the Council of the BMA. Juliet is the grand-daughter of architect Edward Maufe. The completion of Guildford Cathedral was a constant presence in the life of the family, and from her unique position, Juliet provides an intimate and well-researched perspective on the work and life-style of her accomplished grandparents.

The ethnographic museum is full. Clothes, objects and tools fill the walls and floors. But where is the love?
The three speakers take the exhibition ‘Losing Venus’ as their starting point to discuss how emotion, intimacy, care and love can be brought back into the ethnographic museum and radiate out from its collections.

This event will run on Zoom, and will be available to view after the event. A link to the event will be emailed to you via Eventbrite within 48 hours of the event starting.

Lecture by Jane Owen, preceded by OGT’s Christmas drinks party.
Jane Owen, Founder Member of OGT, avid gardener, garden historian and
previously Deputy Editor of the Financial Times, gives us her personal take on
garden history – not to be missed! Doors open 6.30pm for wine or juice (inc), for lecture at 7pm. Book online or pay at the door.
door