London's smaller galleries: Leighton House
Course Code: VB884
Duration: 1 session
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What is the course about?
What was it like to be the most successful artist in the country for over two decades? This course explores Leighton House, an opportunity to explore all parts of Leighton’s home, including the beautiful Arab Hall filled with Leighton’s collection of tiles gathered from the Middle East and Turkey and his impressive studio. Dating from 1864, the house was built as a showcase within which Leighton sought to impress prospective clients, entertain friends, display his collection of art and also to live. The house provides a unique insight into the life and character of this incredibly talented Victorian artist. Recently restored, the house now also contains a stunning collection of Leighton’s own work and provides great insight into his working practice.
A meeting point will be emailed to you within a week of the course start date.
What will we cover?
• A tour of Leighton House
• An introduction to the work of Lord Leighton
• An overview of the Victorian art world.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
• Discuss Leighton’s place within the Victorian art world
• Recognise key elements of his artistic practice
• Identify at least 3 significant paintings and sculptures produced by Leighton.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is suitable for all levels.
You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions, demonstrations, hand-outs and health and safety information.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
This is an interactive course, with a mixture of tutor-led learning and group discussion, with individual exploration very much encouraged.
Museum/gallery-based courses take place during public access hours. Tutors are not able to control sound levels or behaviours of visitors outside of the course group. Unless you are a wheelchair user, and have confirmed access details with us (as levels of access can vary between galleries), you will need to be able to walk between exhibits and stand for some time while looking at them (you may bring your own portable stool if you have one, but we cannot guarantee access to any gallery stools.) If you feel you may be impacted by these environmental variations, please inform the department on humanities@citylit.ac.uk before the course begins, to discuss reasonable accommodations we can make to assist your learning in the museum space.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
The course fee does not include the museum fee. You will be prompted to purchase your museum ticket within a week of the course start date. The museum fee will not exceed £15.
You might wish to purchase a notebook for taking notes. You might wish to buy some of the books on any reading list provided.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Our Friday Lates series runs throughout the year - search 'Friday lates' to find more…
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Julie Barlow has a degree in Art History/History from the University of Hull and an MPhil (Fine Arts) from the University of Birmingham. She has worked in a variety of roles at Leighton House, V&A and Tate Gallery before studying for a PGCE and moving into Museum Education. Julie has over twenty years of experience as a freelance lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery working on all areas of the Education Programme and also for the first ten years at the National Gallery and in the last decade at the Wallace Collection.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
