Lucinda

Lizzie Siddal talk in London

On 16 September I’m doing a talk on Lizzie Siddal, for the UK Friends of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at the Cafe Royal in Piccadilly, London, tickets are available here: http://www.ukfriendsofnmwa.org/event/salon-series-lucinda-hawksley-on-women-pre-raphaelites/

The mysterious tale of Charles Dickens’s raven

Grip from Dicken's fifth novel, Barnaby Rudge

In 2012, the Tower of London welcomed two new inhabitants: a pair of ravens named Jubilee and Grip. Their arrival celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’s birth. This Grip was the third of the Tower ravens to be named after the novelist’s own pet bird. One of his predecessors was … Read more

Victoria and Albert: How a royal love changed culture

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1854

When Queen Victoria inherited the British throne just a few weeks after her 18th birthday, there was immediate speculation about who she would marry. Few had foreseen that this little-known princess would become their monarch. But when the country found itself with a young queen after so many dissolute Hanoverian kings, it seemed that exciting … Read more

Dickens at the Keats-Shelley House

On 28 April I will be talking about Charles Dickens’s travels in Italy at the Keats-Shelley House in Rome. Many people aren’t aware that Dickens and his family lived in Italy for a year, residing in Genoa, and that he travelled widely around the country researching his second travelogue, Pictures from Italy. http://www.keats-shelley.co.uk/events/events

John Singer Sargent talk in Bristol

At 7pm on 11 February, I’ll be talking about John Singer Sargent at Bristol Art Gallery. Tickets are just ?ú3. More info here: http://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/john-singer-sargent-life-lived-canvas/

March, Women, March in Winchester

I’ll be talking about March, Women, March in Winchester on the evening of Friday 13 February: http://www.winchester.gov.uk/events/details/11854

Keats-Shelley House

On Tuesday 28 April, I’ll be in Rome to give a talk at the Keats-Shelley House, more info to follow soon: http://www.keats-shelley-house.org

Why the world still loves Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens, oil painting, William Powell Frith, 1859. Museum no. F.7

In the winter of 1867 a work-weary Charles Dickens arrived in Boston harbour, following a long sea voyage from England. It was 25 years since he had last visited the US, at which time he had travelled with his now-estranged wife, Catherine, celebrated his 30th birthday in Massachusetts and realised that he was indeed an … Read more