My Talks

Talks on the Decorative and Fine Arts by Nicholas Merchant

Nicholas has been a freelance lecturer in the Decorative and Fine Arts for over 15 years. Firstly with the Arts Society and latterly with a succession of the leading Travel Companies. He has achieved a reputation for convivial, and informative talks which he has given from the southern tip of Africa, to the northern tip of Europe. His lectures cover a welter of subjects all of which are designed to inform and amuse.

These talks are all available on power-point, as well as digitally online, and last approximately 45-60 minutes. They are available for interested societies both at home and overseas.

Updated in red for the new 2026 lectures.

Country Houses

  • Apethorpe, A House Back From The Brink
  • Boughton, An English Versailles
  • Bowhill, An Overlooked Treasure House
  • Brodick Castle and William Beckford
  • Castle Howard, The Renaissance of a Baroque Palace
  • The 6th Duke of Devonshire and the Buildingof Chatsworth
  • Country Houses of Cheshire
  • Country Houses of Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire
  • Country Houses of North Wales
  • Country Houses of Sussex
  • Country Houses of Yorkshire
  • Decline of the Country House
  • Erdigg, A House Saved From Dereliction
  • Harewood, The Creation of A Country House
  • The Lure of the Highlands and Islands
  • Two Great Houses: Holkham and Houghton
  • Lowther and the Lonsdales
  • Newby: The House The Gardens, The Steam Train
  • Lady Anne Clifford, Proud Northern Lady
  • The Rothschilds in The Vale of Aylesbury
  • Rothschild Houses in Europe
  • Some Country Houses of the Scottish Borders
  • Waddesdon, The Collection

Architecture

  • The Architectureof John Carr
  • The Architectureof James Wyatt at Chatsworth and Windsor
  • The Architecture of William Burges
  • Sir George Gilbert Scott, Architect of the Gothic Revival
  • Sir Robert Lorimer, The Scottish Lutyens
  • Sir Edwin Lutyens, Architect To Dolls, Dukes and Dynasties
  • The Other Lutyens, His Work For The War Graves Commission
  • Who Was andrea Palladio?
  • Rothschild Houses In Europe
  • Clough Williams-Ellis: The Man Who Built Portmeirion

Collections & Collecting

  • The Great Collectors and Collections of the 19th Century
  • A Mania for Marble. The 18th Century’s Obsession with Antique Sculpture
  • Green Vaults of Dresden
  • The Lady Lever Collection
  • The Forgotten Great Exhibition, Manchester 1857
  • The Golden Age of Dutch Art
  • The Origins of the Wallace Collection
  • The Huguenots, Immigrants Who Transformed Britain

Furniture

  • Thomas Chippendale, Pre-Eminent Cabinet Maker of the 18th Century
  • Eileen Gray, An Irish Rebel
  • Linley, The Continuing Tradition English Cabinet Making

Royal Subjects

  • “My One Great Hobby”, The Collecting Interests of Queen Mary
  • The Prince Regent and His Collecting Mania
  • The Prince Regent and His Building Mania
  • Queen Victoria in The South of France
  • The Royal Collection: The Reign of Elizabeth II
  • Sandringham, A Royal Bolt Hole
  • The Jacobites. The Romance of a Lost Cause.
  • Three Royal Homes: Sandringham, Balmoral, Clarence House.
    (Available Separately or as a Study Day)

Gold, Silver & Jewels

  • The Art of the Silversmith
  • The Gold Box, The Must-Have Accessory of The 18th Century
  • Faberge at The Court of The Tsar
  • If You Want To Get Ahead… Get A Tiara!
  • The Jewellery of Rene Lalique
  • Jewels of The Indian Princes
  • Paul De Lamerie, Silversmith Supreme
  • The Courtaulds
  • Cartier

Ceramics

  • Alchemy and the European Quest for Porcelain
  • Madame De Pompadour and the Porcelain of Sevres
  • The Lady Ludlow Collection.
  • Meissen and the Spread of Porcelain in Europe

Period Styles

  • Arts and Crafts in The Cotswolds
  • The Baroque
  • The Baroque Garden

Travel Related Talks

Russian & Baltic Subjects

  • Drottningholm, Its Gardens and Pavilions
  • Palaces in and Around St Petersburg
  • The Collections of Peter The Great and Catherine The Great
  • The Workof Ilya Repin. The Greatest of Russia’s 19th Century Painters
  • The Hanseatic League, Its Influence on Art and Architecture
  • Treasures of the Rosenborg
  • Queen Christina of Sweden, The Runaway Queen
  • Amber: The Baltic’s Own Gemstone

France

  • The Creation of the Cote D’azur
  • Belles Demeures De Cap Martin A Bordighera
  • English Gardeners in the South Of France
  • The Private Palaces of the Cote D’azur
  • The Popes of Avignon
  • The Romans in Provence
  • The Grand Tour and the River Rhone
  • Two Gentlemen of Bordighera

Along The Danube

  • The Empress Elizabeth of Austria and the Great Compromise
  • The Balkan Kingdoms and The Decline of the Ottoman Empire
  • Prague, At the Centre of European Politics

Germany

  • Potsdam, A Prussian Versailles
  • Bernardo Bellotto and the Creation of “Florence on the Elbe”
  • The Green Vaults of Dresden
  • Meissen and the Spread of Porcelain in Europe

Portugal

  • Portugal, Introductory Talk
  • “Only The Best” The Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
  • Baroque Art in Portugal

Along The Rhine

  • The Golden Age of Dutch Art
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