Gainsborough’s Family Album
At home with the Gainsboroughs.
Criticks – BSECS online reviews
The eighteenth century was the first great age of criticism. In this spirit, the Criticks website provides entertaining, informative and provocative reviews of events and media that are of interest to scholars of the eighteenth century. These complement the reviews of books that are published in the journal of the Society, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies.
Plays, concerts, operas, exhibitions, films, broadcasts and online resources are here considered in depth by experts in the field. If there is an event that you would like to see reviewed in these pages, or if you would like to review for us, please contact one of the editors below:
Criticks Editor
Criticks Subject Editors
Fine Art: Miriam Al Jamil
Media: Daniel Cook and Adam James Smith
Music: Brianna Robertson-Kirkland
Theatre: Katie Aske
Curious Travellers Exhibition (Doctor Johnson’s House)
An impressively multimedia exhibition on the travel writing of Dr Johnson and Thomas Pennant.
Lost Treasures of Strawberry Hill: Masterpieces from Horace Walpole’s Collection
An exhibition at once fascinating and frustrating.
Gainsborough and the Theatre
An important exhibition granting an astonishing level of intimacy with Gainsborough's portraits.
The Marvellous Mechanical Museum
A wondrous re-creation of the eighteenth century's hurly burly.
Canova’s George Washington
Studies in national symbolism.
Winckelmann and Curiosity in the 18th-Century Gentleman’s Library
The rich collections of Christ Church library provide a window onto eighteenth-century intellectual life.
James Cook: The Voyages
An interesting but frustrating exploration of Cook's life and legacy.
Diamond Mountains: Travel and Nostalgia in Korean Art
A small but mighty exhibit.
The Beckford Women
A fascinating exploration of the creative lives and labours of several eighteenth-century women.