Event: NATURE'S FAVOURITE CHILD - THOMAS ROBINS AND THE ART OF THE GEORGIAN GARDEN
Organizer: THE GEORGIAN GROUP
Speakers: Dr Cathryn Spence
Tickets: £7 (concessions may apply)
Date: Sep 6th 6:30pm UK Time. Equivalent times:
Americas - PT: Sep 6th 10:30am | ET: Sep 6th 1:30pm.
Europe - UK: Sep 6th 6:30pm | CET: Sep 6th 7:30pm.
APAC - CST/HKT/SGT: Sep 7th 1:30am | AET: Sep 7th 3:30am.

Description from The Georgian Group:
"Thomas Robins the Elder (1716–1770) recorded the country estates of the Georgian gentry – their orchards, Rococo gardens, and potagers – like no other, with both topographical accuracy and delightful artistry, often bordering his gouaches with entrancing tendrils, shells, leaves, and birds. Robins’s skill was honed by the delicacy required for his early career as a fan painter and is shown too in his exquisite paintings of butterflies, flowers, and birds. Cathryn will introduce the work of Robins through his paintings of gardens at Honington, Painswick and Woodside alongside his extraordinary record of Bath as it was transformed by John Wood the Elder. Her recent publication on Robins is the culmination of over 15 years research and is the first study on the artist since John Harris’s Gardens of Delight (1978). Cathryn will also expand on what it is like undertaking this type of research, how she had to turn detective and how she set out to visit every site depicted in Robins’s sketchbook (V&A Museum) in order to piece together the story of this most curious of Rococo artists. The book has won critical acclaim with Robin Lane Fox proclaiming it a superb new study that should win a prize! 

Dr Cathryn Spence is a museum professional, lecturer and historic gardens and buildings consultant. After a career in London and Bath museums, including the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Building of Bath Museum, she is now Lord Lansdowne’s consultant Archivist and Curator at Bowood House, Wiltshire. She has published several books on the architectural and social history of Bath, most recently The Story of Bath (2016). Her study of Thomas Robins is the culmination of over fifteen years research. Cathryn has worked with the team at Painswick Rococo Garden, a site restored using Robins’s paintings from 1984, for the last 6 years advising on the continuing heritage and conservation of the garden."

Click here to view full details and book: https://georgiangroup.org.uk/event-directory/online-lecture-natures-favourite-child/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND CREDITS
The Georgian Group
Cover image credits: Thomas Robins, Prospect of the Ornamental Garden and Long Water at Honington Hall, Warwickshire, 1759. Private Collection of Stephen and Amanda Clark