brooch using symbolic language
21
May 2025

The Science of Art at the National Gallery

Welcome to The Arts Society Welwyn Garden
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - 10:30
Campus West Welwyn Garden City AL8 6BX
Online Event

The National Gallery’s incredible diversity provides the opportunity to discover the science behind fine art. 

The National Gallery is home to one of the best collections of art in the world, and gives us the opportunity to discover the science behind fine art. How has scientific innovation changed the way we create art? From the development of perspective in the early Renaissance, to the evolution of different paint types, this lecture will look at the genius of Leonardo da Vinci bringing original scientific knowledge into art, and will see how trade brought new copper minerals to Europe that would change the composition of paintings, as seen in the work of Titian.

THE ARTS SOCIETY ACCREDITED LECTURER

Dr Aaron Hunter

I am a professional scientist and researcher with the University of Cambridge and a prize-winning London Blue Badge Guide, a Green Badge Guide for the City of London and Oxford, and a City of Bath Mayor's Guide. As a palaeontologist, I am an expert on fossils and prehistoric life from the first animals to appear on our planet to the evolution of early humans. I have published research on the origin of marine animals 480 million years to the Jurassic World. After degrees in Geology & Palaeobiology, I gained my PhD from the University of London and went on to pursue an academic career working first as a research fellow in France, Germany and Japan and then as a Senior Lecturer in Malaysia and Western Australia. I have a passion for archaeology, history, architecture and the history of art. I give lectures that encompass these subjects looking at the interface between the arts and sciences.

Aaron Hunter