The Arts Society Welwyn Garden

01/11/2026

Happy birthday L. S. Lowry, born on this day in 1887 🎈

This painting of a well-dressed man taking a break in the middle of the city is one of hismost iconic works.

Lowry said that 'People...refuse to believe me when I tell them I saw a man dressed just like that, doing just that, from the top of a bus in Haslingden, Rossendale, Lancashire.'

You can find many Lowry prints on the Art UK Shop 👉 https://shop.artuk.org/artist/laurence-stephen-lowry-1887-1976

'Man Lying on a Wall' by Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887–1976) © The Lowry

01/11/2026

An unknown painter covered up the Cupid portrait after Vermeer's death, and it remained an empty wall for nearly 300 years until X-rays revealed it.

Someone vandalized a Vermeer… and got away with it for 250 years.

Look at the empty wall behind her. Now look at the AFTER.

This is “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” by Johannes Vermeer, the same artist who painted “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” He finished it around 1658. A young woman stands by an open window, completely lost in a letter. For centuries, the wall behind her was bare.

But it wasn’t supposed to be.

In 1979, an X-ray showed something hidden underneath: a painting of Cupid, the god of love, hanging right above her head. Experts assumed Vermeer had changed his mind and painted over it himself. Case closed.

Then in 2017, conservators found something that changed everything. The paint covering Cupid had been added by somebody else, decades after Vermeer was already dead.

Someone had erased part of his masterpiece. And nobody knows who, or why.

So restorers spent years scraping away the overpaint under a microscope, inch by inch, with a scalpel. In 2021, Cupid was finally revealed again, just as Vermeer intended.

And it changes the entire painting. With Cupid watching over her, this isn’t just a girl reading a letter. It’s a love letter.

This painting has survived a lot. It was once sold as a Rembrandt, then credited to another painter, then saved from the bombing of Dresden in World War II, then taken by the Soviet army, and returned 10 years later.

Somebody tried to hide its secret. It took 250 years to get it back.

Which version do you like better, BEFORE or AFTER? 👇

🎨 “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1657–1659)
🏛️ Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

30/10/2026

My copy arrived today!

30/10/2026

TASWG members recently enjoyed a gloriously sunny stay on Malta, learning much about the history and heritage of the island.

Highlights of our trip included a guided tour of Valletta, the handsome capital city of Malta built by the Knights of St John, during which we admired the splendour of St John’s Co-Cathedral and explored the Grandmaster’s Palace, home to the offices of the President of Malta. Our stay also included a visit to the picturesque ‘Silent City’ of Mdina, Malta’s former capital, where the impressive Palazzo Falson hosts a wonderful library and collection of paintings, silver and furniture.

Boat trips around the Grand Harbour and to the small island of Gozo, legendary home of the nymph Calypso, and visits to the ancient Ggantija Temples and the Temples of Tarxien completed our action-packed stay. A comfortable hotel, excellent guide and good company made this a truly memorable TASWG trip!

30/10/2026

A review of the "A Call to Art: William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites" exhibition from 23 October 2026 to 3 May 2027 at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

A Fitzwilliam Museum show in Cambridge displays drawings, paintings and designs acquired by Sydney Cockerell, a friend and private secretary of the English designer.

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/10/19/exhibition-highlights-overlooked-william-morris-collection-and-his-collaborations-with-women-makers

30/10/2026

Patrick Stewart will be remembered for many things in his long career. Outside of acting he did things because he could - like being an ambassador for Refuge, and supporting charities that he believed in. He was also learning, like teaching himself to play Mozart.

29/10/2026

Our members appreciated our October lecture on Rembrandt's "The Night Watch - an Anatomy of a Masterpiece", being fascinated and amused in equal measure. Hilary Williams is passionate about Rembrandt, having first seen her first Rembrandt aged 10.

The original title was not "The Night Watch" - see slide!

We looked at Rembrandt's previous paintings to see how he developed as an artist, and where his influences for the painting came from. Hilary talked about the woman in white who has a spotlight on her and a chicken at her waist, and why Hilary believes that she was painted despite not being in the under drawing as a woman would not be in the Kloveniers guild (local militia group) who commissioned the painting. A great lecture!

29/10/2026

While the date is clearly on display, the name of one of the boys is the paintings hasn't come down the historical line and the other was only discovered through modern techniques. .

29/10/2026

Light and shadow, this painting was also included in one of the Open University courses "From Enlightenment to Romanticism"

‘Five things hit me immediately when I look at this painting: the scale, the drama, the emotion, the mystery and the jeopardy.’

In the first of a new series in the magazine titled ‘Object Lessons’, author, broadcaster, writer and Arts Society President Hilary Kay shares her insights into a single fascinating artwork.
For Hilary’s first column she discusses ‘An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’ (1768) by Joseph Wright of Derby.

See the piece in person at Derby Museums in the exhibition ‘Wright of Derby: From the Shadows’ until 1 November.

Image: © The National Gallery, London