Wed, 20 Mar
|East Horsley Village Hall
Charles Darwin and the voyage of HMS Beagle
This talk focuses on the family and influences upon Charles Darwin FitzRoy, the commander of HMS Beagle and their participation in the celebrated voyage of 1831-36 which enabled Darwin to collect vital evidence for his ground-breaking publication On the Origin of the Species.
Time & location
20 Mar 2024, 10:30
East Horsley Village Hall, Kingston Ave, East Horsley, Leatherhead KT24 6QT
About the event
Fitzroy, paid for two artists, Augustus Earle and Conrad Martens, to paint the people and places encountered, and these images underpin the series of sensational seafaring stories.
About the speaker
James Taylor studied at the Universities of St Andrews and Manchester, and is a former curator of paintings, drawings and prints, and co-ordinator of various exhibitions and galleries, at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, also lecturer and ships' historian on board cruise ships. Publications include illustrated histories of Marine Painting (1995) and yachting art Yachts on Canvas (1998), The Voyage of the Beagle: Darwin’s extraordinary adventure aboard FitzRoy’s famous survey ship (2008), Careless Talk Costs Lives: Fougasse and the Art of Public Information (2010) and Your Country Needs You: the Secret History of the Propaganda Poster (2013), Dazzle: Disguise and Disruption in War and Art (2016) and Picturing the Pacific: Sir Joseph Banks and the Shipboard Artists of Cook and Flinders (2018). Completed his PhD at the University of Sussex in 2015 on the voyager artist William Westall (1781-1850) who sailed with Commander Matthew Flinders aboard HMS 'Investigator' (1801-1803) the first ship to circumnavigate Australia.
Guided tours of the buildings and artworks of the National Maritime Museum can be arranged for groups.
This event is free to members.
Visitors are welcome to join us - £5 on the door.