London History Day 2018

London History Day: 31 May

The theme of this years London History Day is courage. Across the capital 70 of London's museums, galleries and cultural spaces will open their doors to celebrate the capital's unique identity touching on the pioneering spirit, heroism, initiative and kindness layered in our history.

The Paul Mellon Centre is delighted to be taking part in London History Day again this year and Professor Mark Hallett will be giving a special hour-long lecture on The Suffering Soldier: Depictions of Courage in Eighteenth-Century British Art.

The focus on a few especially powerful examples of eighteenth-century British art to explore the ways in which artist dealt with, and depicted, the subject of courage. The lecture will concentrate in particular on images of the heroic, tragic and pitiful soldier, produced by artists as varied as John Singleton Copley, Benjamin West and Joseph Wright of Derby. Doing so will reveal the very different ways in which courage could be conceptualised and represented during a century in which Britain was regularly at war.

In addition, the doors of the Centre will be open offering public access to the current Drawing Room Display, concerning the Royal Academy, and the opportunity to register to use the Centre's Library and Archive.

To book your free space please click here.

Image credit: John Singleton Copley 1738-1815, The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 (1783) © Tate