East Surrey Area Study Day: The Dr Jonathan Foyle Lectures

A Paradise Garden: The Meaning of Medieval Plants in Art & The Nature of the Beast: Animals in Medieval Art - Fri 8th May 2026 - Yehudi Menuhin Hall

In the Sunday Times magazine at the beginning of this year, Waldemar Januszczak wrote a two page lesson on how to look at a painting to get more meaning from it.  He wrote “Getting the most out of paintings involves a determination to go deeper.   When we look at a painting we look at somebody’s message. Not all those messages are deep.  But often they are.  Your eyes may be the most important organ for looking at art, but the heart runs them a close second.”

The delightful Dr Jonathan Foyle returns to us with two new lectures, which will help us understand much better the messages that the artists are sending us in medieval art of different types.

The Garden of Paradise depicted in The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb© Art in Flanders, photo KIK-IRPA

A PARADISE GARDEN

The Meaning of Medieval Plants in Art

Have you noticed how many medieval paintings are set in May? The language of plants evolved over the centuries to create a lexicon of creation that paved the way to Paradise, a perennial early summer where all the flowers and all the fruits emerge at the same time- but each tells us something different. We explore paintings, tapestry, manuscripts and sculpture to re-learn a lost language. 

Rebecca at the Well, late 6th century, Austrian National Library

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST: ANIMALS IN MEDIEVAL ART

Animals were central to medieval arts: we find birds, reptiles, mammals, insects and fabulous creatures in sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, tapestries and even wax seals. But what were the artists trying to tell us through the animals they portrayed? This talk explores a lost artistic language, to discover that the behaviours and legends of creatures enabled us to learn about ourselves.

Tickets are available from Ticket Tailor:

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theartssociety2/1796429