Leonée Ormond on
Charles Dickens

Friday 2 March 8pm
Constable Hall East Bergholt

To mark the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth Leonée Ormond will be talking about 'Dickens and the Artists'. Charles Dickens did not encounter the fine arts early in life. His year in Italy, 1844-45, opened his eyes to the work of the old masters, and encouraged him to form strong opinions on contemporary art. Among his artist friends were Daniel Maclise and Clarkson Stanfield. His notorious attack on an early Pre-Raphaelite painting, John Millais' Christ in the Carpenter's Shop, expressed a belief that art should edify and uplift the human spirit.

Leonee Ormond is Professor Emerita of Victorian Studies at King's College, University of London and has recently been made a Fellow of the College. She taught at the college for forty-one years. She has published articles and monographs on many nineteenth and early twentieth century artists and writers including Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Rudyard Kipling, Linley Sambourne and Charles Morgan.