9 May 2025 | 7.30pm | Rausing Building
£20 (includes a glass of wine or soft drink)
Tickets will be available shortly both online and in the Athelstan Museum shop
Nicola Moorby will talk about the alleged epic rivalry between the two giants of British art, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. As unlike in background and temperament as their paintings were in style, these two creative geniuses transformed the art of landscape during the nineteenth century. This lecture sets them head-to-head and examines their ‘signature’ paints and how their differing approaches fared in the competitive arena of the Royal Academy. Nicola will also examine how the two artists overcame the ‘technical challenge’ of sketching from nature before witnessing the final showdown of their respective ‘showstoppers’. But who will ultimately be crowned star painter?
Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian and curator, specialising in British art of the nineteenth century. She studied at the University of York and Birkbeck College, London. She has published widely, most recently writing Turner and Constable: Art, Life, Landscape, due to be published this March. She has also been the co-editor and author of How to Paint Like Turner (Tate Publishing, 2010) and was a major contributor to the online catalogues of the Turner Bequest and the Camden Town Group. She has also curated a number of exhibitions including Constable: The Dark Side at The Arc, Winchester in 2023 and Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds and Beasts for Turner’s House in 2025. She is an experienced lecturer and regularly teaches short courses at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She has appeared as an expert on television and radio including ‘Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr’ (2020 and 2021) and ‘Art on the BBC’ (2022).