Our Honorary Chaplain, The Revd Canon Roger Hall MBE, invites Arts Scholars and their guests to attend an Advent service on Sunday 28 November 2021 in the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, HM Tower of London.

Please note you will need to arrive by 10.30am in order to attend the service which starts at 11.00am. This is a family service, and all are welcome. A collection will be taken during the Service.

The famous Arts Scholars Friday Fish & Chip lunches are back! This lunch on 26th Nov 21 will be the second in a new series, to be held at the City University Club, the new home of the City Livery Club.

Please note, as the City University Club is a private members' club, the dress code is jacket and tie for men and equivalent formality for women.

An admissions ceremony is one of the most important events in our calendar, being the first opportunity to welcome our new Liverymen and Freemen. Those being admitted will be asked to declare an Oath of Allegiance and sign the register before being presented to our Master, John Spanner, to receive their certificates. As is our custom, new Freemen will give a short narrative about themselves and their connection to the decorative arts.

Once the formal part of the evening has been concluded there will be a reception culminating at 9.00pm. All of this will take place in the historic and evocative surrounding of the recently refurbished Old Library at the Charterhouse.

Arts Scholars Nigel Israel and Marc Meltonville will discuss their respective careers and interests. Nigel is a gemmologist and jeweller who has been a consultant to major organisations including the Royal Collection, has organised the creation of fine jewellery (including the Arts Scholars’ Master’s and Mistress’s badges) and has a passion for silver and horology. Marc is a distinguished food historian, and was for many years the food historian for Historic Royal Palaces. Along with work at the six Royal Palaces Marc has been involved in historic kitchen restoration of many stately homes and period reconstruction work in America. Before he moved to food he had museum experience in a wide range of decorative arts.

The 2021 Arts Scholars’ Livery Dinner will be held at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall on the evening of Monday 25th October 2021.

The event is for Liverymen only - no guests. The opportunity will also be taken to ‘cloathe’ new Liverymen.

Arts Scholar Wynyard Wilkinson will lead us in a visit to the innovative Museum of Brands, minutes from Portobello Road. In a chronological journey of discovery through the permanent exhibition The Time Tunnel, we will explore the remarkable story of how consumer society has evolved since Victorian times, with our favourite brands put into their historical context.

The evening will finish with a glass of wine. For those who wish, there will be the opportunity to have supper in a nearby Turkish restaurant (not included in the price).

Drawing on his recent book, ‘An Elephant in Rome’, Past Master Loyd Grossman will talk to members and their guests about the relationship between the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pope Alexander VII, and the building of Baroque Rome.

We will hear how, in 1655, the newly-elected Alexander VII engaged Bernini, the most important artist of the age, together creating a city grander and more beautiful than at any time since the days of the Emperor Augustus, and which continues to delight today.

The talk will be followed by a canapé Reception, with the evening concluding at 8.45pm.

Arts Scholar John Benjamin’s talk on 18th Century Jewellery will look at many of the key inspirations of this beautiful - and often misunderstood - period of jewellery design, so very different from much of the repetitive, perfectly proportioned generic jewels sold today.

The famous Arts Scholars Friday Fish & Chip lunches are back!

This lunch on 24th Sep 21 will be the first in a new series, to be held at the City University Club, the new home of the City Livery Club (the current President of which is Arts Scholars' Past Master Nic Somers).

Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Officer, Stuart Wyatt, will be leading another Arts Scholars expedition of antiquity hunting on the Thames foreshore. In contrast with the highly enjoyable sessions in July 2019, this time the north foreshore (the City/St Paul's side) will be visited. Low tide is at 11.35am and Arts Scholars will explore the area with Stuart, after being shown a variety of objects previously found on the foreshore of the Thames. A late light lunch nearby at Mudlarkers’ own expense will follow.