Join us for a thought-provoking and insightful session by Leslie Primo in The Arts Society at Firstsite (TASAF) Lecture series!

The Arts Society at Firstsite is an organisation about connecting people who have a passion for art.

TASAF is part of a global network of local societies, which bring people together through shared curiosity for the arts. You can learn more about it here. 

We offer a series of 10 talks* from accredited lecturers based around the UK. Lectures take place throughout the year from September to June on the third Tuesday of each month. 

Find out more about TASAF here.

To secure your place in this session please scroll down to book. Seating is unreserved but you will need to show your tickets before entering the auditorium. Tickets can be presented on your smart device or as a printed copy. 

Session Program 

The Foreign Invention of British Art (Lecture by Leslie Primo)

We have all heard about the great achievements of the Italian Renaissance, but there is little acknowledgement of the artistic events that took place in Britain during a parallel period. 

This lecture will take us back to that period in an exploration of the tumultuous creative outpourings of artistic talent that defined this period, some of which are no longer household names to us such as:

Lucas Horenbout (circa 1490 – 1544) and family, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8 – 1543), Guillim Scrots (active 1537 – 1553), Gerlach Flick (active 1545 – 1558), John de Critz the Elder (1550-1642), Lucas de Heere (1568 – 1577) John Bettes the Elder (active c. 1531–1570), George Gower (c. 1540–1596), Robert Peake the Elder (circa 1551-1619), Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619), Daniel Mytens (c.1590-1647) and Marcus Gheeraerts II (1561 or 2–1636) and Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677).

Spanning a period from the late 15th century through to the early 17th century, this lecture will explore the conflicts and tensions between this mix of artists both indigenous and incoming in an effort to examine what relationship, if any, existed between the practises of the native artists and their foreign counterparts.

Could the native art be said to have a unique character of its own or was it derivative and thus led by the incoming art of the day. Just how distinctive was the art they produced? How did it fare when compared to the contemporaneous work of foreign artists?

How direct was the competition and was there even some interaction resulting in shared artistic knowledge and thus heritage among these diverse communities of artists?

The Foreign Invention of British Art aims to place these artists and others into the context of their times revealing how British art came of age, From Renaissance to The Grand Manner.

About the Lecturer

Art historian, Leslie Primo is an author and broadcaster, graduating from Birkbeck, University College, London with an MA in Renaissance studies.

He lectured at the National Gallery, London for 18 years, has appeared on the BBC speaking in ‘Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty’, and on the Life of Michelangelo, and presented ‘Turner: Light and Landscape‘.

He was a contributor to the ‘Oxford Companion Guide to Black British History’, an art history consultant for the Getty publication, ‘Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art‘ and was published by the Royal Academy Magazine for the ‘Entangled Pasts exhibition, 2023-2024’.

Leslie’s book, ‘The Foreign Invention of British Art’ is published by Thames & Hudson in 2025.

Visit the Firstsite Cafe before or after your TASAF Lecture Series session! 

Our cafés offer a wide selection of delicious snacks, cakes and light meals, along with hot and cold drinks which can be purchased to enjoy.

Find out more about our menus here 

*This price is the set fee paid by all members irrespective of the date they join the society.