Our Christmas Lecture is about how magicians have appeared in art throughout the centuries.

In paintings, satirical prints or cartoons, early artists used the magician to symbolise the mysterious and the unknown, associating them with astrology. In the 16th century, Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch produced two of the most famous and striking pictures of the conjurer performing the Cups and Balls trick. The 18th and 19th century saw a proliferation in engravings and lithographs showing the magician both indoors and on the streets. Bringing it right up to date there are examples of how cartoonists and satirists delight in linking politicians with skulduggery with images of them featuring Sawing a Woman in Half, Vanishing illusions or pulling a Rabbit out of the Hat. Some of the tricks talked about are performed by Ian.