Blog
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Pretending to be Cinderella in Toronto: the Bata Shoe Museum
English shoes, 1760s, silk from early seventeenth century (The Gold Standard exhibition) Aside from art, country houses and Jane Austen, one of my biggest passions is shoes. I’ve loved shoes since I was very small, the more outlandish and brightly coloured the better, and relished the day that my feet stayed the same size so read more
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Cabinets of Curiosity, Salons and the Era of Annual Exhibitions at Montréal Museum of Fine Arts
I’ve recently got back from a two-week whirlwind trip to Canada so I think my November and December posts are going to be full of some of my favourite places we visited: starting with my first, which was the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. We’d been in Montréal approximately half an hour when we arrived read more
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What women really thought about “Grand Tourists” in the eighteenth century…
A Caprice Landscape with Ruins, in the style of Bernardo Bellotto, 1740-1800, oil on canvas (National Gallery, London, NG 135) When reading about the eighteenth century and the treasures that came into the country house, it might seem a little bit like only young men were travelling to the continent to undertake the rite of read more
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Favourite Period Dramas: Darcy, Green Gables and Morse
For me, autumn always seems to be period drama season, and also, that means Sunday nights spent in front of the TV watching the drama unfold against the backdrop of different historical periods, whilst I drink either tea or wine and the weather gets colder. I love how period dramas can give you a feel read more
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Titian and the Alabaster Room
Bacchus and Ariadne, by Titian. 1520-3, oil on canvas (National Gallery, London, NG35) I haven’t written a blog in a while and inspiration struck recently when I was flicking through some art books (even though I don’t technically do History of Art anymore, I can’t let it go!) and rediscovered my favourite painting, Bacchus and read more
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Laura Bassi (1711-1778): First Female Professor
Portrait of Laura Bassi: Carlo Vandi, eighteenth century. Wikimedia Commons: find the original here. The last couple of weeks I’ve been doing some reading about women travelling in Europe during the eighteenth century, and I came across a reference in letters sent between the Countesses of Pomfret and Hertford detailing the Countess of Pomfret, Henrietta read more
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Elena Cornaro Piscopia (1646 – 1684): First woman to gain a PhD
Portrait of Elena Cornaro Piscopia: unknown artist, possibly 18th century. Wikimedia Commons: find the original here. Today marks 340 years since the first woman gained her PhD. In wake of the wonderful #ImmodestWomen explosion on Twitter, which has encouraged women to own their achievements and celebrate their PhDs and research following a stand made by read more
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An Afternoon at the Frick Collection
Want to spend some time looking at art in a place that’s just as beautiful as the paintings, sculpture and decorative arts that are on display inside? Then the Frick Collection should definitely be on your list of places to visit! Held in a gilded age mansion on Fifth Avenue, it makes for a wonderful read more
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Belton House: A Celebration of Creative Women
2018 is a special year in British Women’s History: it marks the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, when, for the first time, some women were eligible to vote. This moment in history has provided the opportunity for many heritage sites and organisations to reflect on the stories of women and their achievements: read more
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Raphael and La Fornarina
Rome, from the Vatican. Raffaelle, Accompanied by La Fornarina, Preparing his Pictures for the Decoration of the Loggia by J. M. W. Turner, exhibited 1820, oil on canvas (Tate Britain, N00503) For the three hundredth anniversary of Raphael’s death, which occurred on Good Friday in 1520 (supposedly the artist’s thirty-seventh birthday), J. M. W. Turner read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 