Georgian Group Symposium: ‘Embroidered with dust and mortar’: Women and Architecture, 1660-1840
Saturday 28th September, Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly
Following successful conferences held by the Group in previous years, this day-long symposium will explore how women contributed to and interacted with architecture in the period 1660-1840. Women’s involvement in architectural design and drawing, their patronage of buildings and their contribution to the building industry has long been overlooked by scholars. Drawing on recent research, the symposium will reassess, and throw new light upon, female architectural achievement and the significance this has upon our understanding of architecture from this period. Speakers hail from a range of disciplinary backgrounds including leading authorities on British architectural history, the decorative arts and women’s history–among them Clarisse Godard Desmarest, Richard Hewlings, Ruth Thorpe, Megan Leyland and Esme Whittaker – as well as a host of younger scholars. There will be papers on female patronage of villas, country houses, town houses and dower houses; women and interior decoration; Eleanor Coade’s influence; women and the building industry; the significance of the Adam sisters; and female architectural design and drawing.
Following the symposium there will be a reception at 6 Fitzroy Square, W1T 5DX.