The dark allure of orientalism in Beckford’s Vathek

 

A Royal Palace in Morocco by Benjamin Jean Joseph 

The dark allure of orientalism in Beckford’s Vathek

Intersection of sensuality, horror, and superstition in 18th-century gothic and orientalist literature

20 FEBRUARY 2025, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

Alderman William Beckford (Snr) became Mayor of London twice and made a fortune in sugar and slaves in the West Indies. William was his only son and inherited his father’s fortune in 1770, aged nine. From childhood, he was fascinated with Asia and Islam. By eighteen, his headstrong personality was fixed, and he was determined to enjoy his life. One desire that his wealth could not make acceptable is his homosexuality. What sealed his reputational ruin was his attraction to pre-adolescent boys. This can be seen in the novel with the race of the young boys who take off their clothes to display their delicate limbs. A race that ends in death. Beckford also shows disdain for religion by having Vathek renounce Muhammad in order to acquire forbidden knowledge to enter the Palace of Subterranean Fire, where Suleiman, son of Daoud, resides, surrounded by the talismans that subdue the world.

 

Marie-Éléonore Godefroid (1778–1849): Scheherazade and Shahryar

The allure of The Arabian Nights

Storytelling, morality, and the supernatural in the 18th century

20 MARCH 2025, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

Malcolm Lyons, in his introduction to the book, states it was the strangeness of the plotting and the imagery that appealed to early Western readers. Although the book begins with a framing story, the subsequent tales are told one within another, like nesting dolls. Each tale is interrupted with “but morning overtook Sheherazade, and she lapsed into silence. Then her sister said, “Sister, what an entertaining story!” Sheherazade replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night!”. 

The gothic deception / Fear and morality in Clermont

 

Edinburgh, Scotland, is home to stunning Gothic architecture, showcasing its rich historical and cultural heritage

The gothic deception: fear and morality in Clermont

The Northanger Abbey horrid novels

20 APRIL 2025, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

Clermont was originally published in 1798 by Lane’s Minerva Press. It is now best known for being one of the “horrid novels” listed in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Horrid in the sense of being shocking, corrupting, and morally undermining. Yet, in common with the majority of eighteenth-century novels, Clermont advises against superstition, promotes an adherence to propriety and filial obligation, and warns against evil intent. The antagonists are condemned for their actions and act as a warning to the naïve and innocent reader. 

Robert William Buss, The Ghost Story 

Rituals & politics in Carl Grosse’s Horrid Mysteries 

Gothic horror and secret societies

20 JUNE 2025, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

Horrid Mysteries by Carl Grosse is one of the seven horrid novels of Northanger Abbey and owes its title to the grotesque nature of its subject matter. Yet despite the violence, murder, and the unexplained supernatural, it is significant for its portrayal of secret societies and the concern around the political role of women within society.

Eleanor Sleath and "The Orphan of the Rhine"

Château de Bresse-sur-Grosne stands in the heart of a quiet field—a mysterious and majestic presence in rural France

Eleanor Sleath and "The Orphan of the Rhine"

Gothic morality, religion, and rational sensibility

20 MAY 2025, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

Born in 1770, the youngest of five children, Eleanor Carter is best known for the first of her six novels, The Orphan of the Rhine, which was famously included as one of Jane Austen’s horrid novels in Northanger Abbey. Her father, Thomas Carter, was one of five brothers who qualified as country attorneys, eventually settling in Loughborough. When he died in 1773, without leaving a will, his widow and eldest brother administered the estate. Eleanor married Joseph Sleath in 1792 at the age of twenty-one, but by the age of twenty-four, she was a widow. Her second marriage to John Dudley was in 1823, following the death of his wife. Contrary to initial assumptions, she was not Catholic, even though she portrays Catholicism in a positive light in her novel.

Karl Friedrich Kahlert’s / “The necromancer" Unmasking the supernatural in a gothic tale of mystery and deception

A woman standing behind the ruins of a torn-down castle, creating a spooky thriller atmosphere

Karl Friedrich Kahlert’s "The necromancer"

Unmasking the supernatural in a gothic tale of mystery and deception

20 JULY 2025, 

TRACEY MADELEY JONES

The Necromancer, in common with The Horrid Mysteries, is another German tale. It relies on dark subterranean passages and caves, along with ghostly apparitions, to add horror and suspense. However, unlike The Monk, it seeks to expose these ghostly appearances as the work of charlatans and robbers, aligning it with the explained supernatural advocated by Ann Radcliffe.

Damien Hirst / Permanent event at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

 

Damien Hirst, The hat makes the man, 2004-2007. Courtesy of YSP Gallery

Damien Hirst

Permanent event at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton, United Kingdom

16 SEPTEMBER 2024

MVisit the Country Park to see three major sculptures by Damien Hirst.

Charity (2002-2003), The hat makes the man(2004-2007) and The virgin mother (2005-2006) joined YSP as part of Yorkshire Sculpture International (YSI). YSI is a partnership between YSP, The Hepworth Wakefield, the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, and Leeds Art Gallery. YSI 2019 was a festival of sculpture that took place across Leeds and Wakefield from 22 June until 29 September 2019. The virgin mother is 10 metres tall and is a powerful presence in the landscape. It is partly inspired by the historic sculpture Little dancer of fourteen years (c.1881), by Edgar Degas. Charity is based on the Scope charity collection boxes that used to be common on British streets. On the walking route to The Weston, it features a young girl wearing a calliper and cradling a teddy bear. It has a donate box asking people to 'please give generously'. Hirst's interpretation questions outdated ways of depicting disability and seeking charity.

Van Gogh / Poets and lovers

 

Vincent van Gogh, The bedroom, 1889. Courtesy of The National Gallery

Van Gogh. Poets and lovers

14 Sep 2024 — 19 Jan 2025 at The National Gallery in London, United Kingdom

15 JANUARY 2025

Public tickets are now sold out. There are a limited number of Member tickets available for late and overnight opening hours. 

Lost for words

 

Various artists, Lost for words, exhibition view. Courtesy of Patrick Heide Contemporary Art

Lost for words

10 Jul — 13 Sep 2025 at the Patrick Heide in London, United Kingdom

15 JULY 2025

 

I cannot experience your experience.
You cannot experience my experience.
We are both invisible men.
All men are invisible to one another. 

(The politics of experience [1967], R. D. Laing)

Millet / Life on the land

 

Jean-François Millet, L’angélus, 1857- 9. Courtesy of The National Gallery

Millet

Life on the land

7 Aug — 19 Oct 2025 at The National Gallery in London, United Kingdom

15 JANUARY 2025

The sower, the woodcutter, a shepherd girl. These are the subjects that made French artist Jean-Francois Millet famous. 

 

Walton Goggins: ‘How would I like to be remembered? As one of a kind.’

Photograph: Alberto E Rodriguez

Interview

The White Lotus’s Walton Goggins: ‘Who do I most admire? My wife, because of what we have overcome together’

The actor on obsessive cleaning, missing his own teeth, and his sand and dirt collection

Rosanna Greenstreet

Saturday 10 May 2025

Sergey Polyushko / Cats

 

Sergey Polyushko

CATS

Sergey Polyushko / Animals

 

Sergey Polyushko 

ANIMALS

 

1. Angela Smith, Sidestep, Gloss, Enamel & Oil on Canvas, 98 x 78 cm

Angela Smith and Katrine Roberts 

4 — 21 Nov 2015 at the Lacey Contemporary Gallery in London, United Kingdom

2 NOVEMBER 2015 

Katrine Roberts, Sucking in your breath, oil on board, 50 x 60 cm

"Then it seemed like falling into a labyrinth: we thought we were at the finish, but our way bent round and we found ourselves as it were back at the beginning, and just as far from that which we were seeking at first." Plato, Euthydemus

Marina Spadafora / A totally ethical designer

 

Marina Spadafora in Vietnam

Marina Spadafora 

A totally ethical designer

29 SEPTEMBER 2015, 

LUISA MARIANI

What would you like to tell us about yourself?

I arrived in Milan at the end of 1989, after a decade spent in the United States, mainly in Los Angeles. The feeling Milan gave me was like having a warm blanket over my shoulders, a sense of comfort and familiarity. The English term that best defines this good feeling is "cozy". I had never lived in Milan, I grew up in Bolzano and from there, when I was 18 years old, I left for the United States. So this "returning home" from a megalopolis like Los Angeles, to a decidedly human scale city like Milan, immediately made me feel at ease. In America, I had many important experiences such as college, work, marriage... I lived in the United States from 18 to 30, therefore a significant part of my life. Returning back to Italy gave way to new experiences, both private and professional. I ran my own fashion brand “Marina Spadafora” with an intense activity of design, production, distribution and promotion, with two fashion shows a year during the Fashion Week in Milan. In 2002 we sold the company, and I continued my work as a designer, first with Ferragamo and later with Prada.

Graphene / The Passion For Innovation

 

Graphene

Graphene: The Passion For Innovation

An interview with Greta Radaelli 

4 JULY 2019, 

LUISA MARIANI

With a degree in Physical Engineering, a PhD in Physics and years of scientific research in Spain, France and Italy, Greta is passionate about process and product innovation. She contributed in bringing graphene, a new material with extraordinary mechanical, thermal and electrical characteristics, to market applications, participating in the launch of one of the most promising start-ups in this industry. She is currently junior Engagement Manager of McKinsey & Company.

Photographs That Self-Cure / Interview with Monica Silva

 

On my skin

Photographs That Self-Cure 

Interview with Monica Silva 

4 MAY 2019, 

LUISA MARIANI

I'm not very good at talking about myself,  but to be honest, I feel like I'm a more of a reflective woman today, although I'm full of dreams and energy. I feel that I have a strong responsibility on my shoulders because I cannot afford to betray my dreams and those who trust me. The greatest joy is being able to do my work in a way that is free of constraints. I am a very strict photographer with myself, who has always given herself strict discipline so as not to lose her goals. As a rule, I take photographs for my own pleasure, without asking myself what the public, the curator or the critic on duty want: it is a rule that I have set myself to carry forward my ideas without fear of being misinterpreted or of disappointing someone. After all, there is no harsher critic than ourselves!! I have a wonderful son, born in Italy from an Italian father, who I raised with great difficulties and who represents everything in my life. The lack of a real family, of a father and a mother, of roots, weighs me and to fill my voids I use photography in the therapeutic field, the basis on which I carry out all my work.