Thursday 24th May 2018

Venue: Chawton House

6.30pm drinks reception for 7pm talk.

**Please note, the date of this event has changed from Saturday 19 May to Thursday 24 May due to the Royal Wedding.**

The Three Exhibitions that Saved the Country House

Dr Oliver Cox (Heritage Engagement Fellow, University of Oxford)

In this lavishly illustrated talk, Dr Oliver Cox explores the rise and fall of the English country house through three critically and commercially successful exhibitions: ‘The Destruction of the Country House’ at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1974; ‘Treasure Houses of Britain’ at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC in 1985; and ‘Costumes of Downton Abbey’ at the Winterthur Museum, Delaware in 2014. These exhibitions chart the changing popular fortunes of the country house, and give insights into the way these structures have not only survived, but become a crucial part of English national identity.

A historian by training, Oliver Cox is Heritage Engagement Fellow at the University of Oxford. In addition to co-ordinating a range of collaborative projects with the heritage sector, he has published widely on Gothic Revival architecture, landscape gardening, patriotism, and the country house. His From Addison to Austen: A Short Guide to the Long Eighteenth Century and The British Country House Revisited will be published in 2018.

Tickets: £12; Students/Friends £9

To book, call us on 01420 541010 or book online here (subject to Eventbrite booking fee).