What's new to view at home?

It’s pantomime season, so I thought I would this month celebrate Joseph Grimaldi 1778-1837, king of clowns. We scarcely now think of Covent Garden and Sadler’s Wells as venues for comedy, yet Grimaldi  bestrode the stages of both and of Drury Lane to become the most famous entertainer of the Regency period. Coming to prominence especially for his role as Clown in Harlequin and Mother Goose, ‘Joey’ became synonymous with ‘clown’ and he it was who created the face make-up that survives to this day. There’s a fascinating book of his tempestuous life by Andrew McConnell Stott – ‘The Pantomime Life of Jospeh Grimaldi’. You can also read an account on a Jane Austen website here . An annual memorial service in Hackney still draws hundreds of fully-costumed clowns from all over the world. His portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

Here are our some of our latest rcommendations for you to vew at home :

The Arts Society have partnered with the Royal College of Music to show on-line performances. The first is a jazz concert, available until 11 December

· The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition – click here and scroll down for a virtual tour

· Artemisia Gentileschi – Book here for a curator led on-line tour of the National Gallery exhibition

· Wigmore Hall – free live streamed concerts here

· David Parr House, Cambridge – take a live virtual tour of this beautifully preserved Arts and Crafts worker’s home

· Sian Walters is now offering Cultural Travels From Home, especially in Italy, including in Perugia, Siena and Venice. Click here

Opera North has the Ring Cycle

On-line Pantomime – Jack and the Beanstalk

I thought I would choose Dame Laura Knight as our featured artist for August. One of Britain’s best impressionist painters, her paintings of sunlit summer scenes in Cornwall seem appropriate for the season. See this charming video of some of her paintings, with music by Gerald Finzi.

Here are a selection of some more things to view on-line or TV - links on our Arts on the Internet page on our website:

• Cranach at Compton Verney

• Arctic: Culture and Climate at British Museum

• Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy

• The BBC Proms and Beethoven documentary series

• new Theatre, Ballet and Opera performances

• Fan Museum at Greenwich – virtual tour

• Waddesdon Manor Gardens – virtual tour

• The Joy of Painting – BBC 4 series

I've been watching the lovely Art of Persia Series on BBC4 - 9pm on Monday. It's excellent and well presented by Samira Ahmed. Last in the series of three next week but you can see the earlier episodes on on catch-up. Do watch.

It may be wet tomorrow; so it's a great opportunity to stay in and watch the National Theatre's stage adaptation of Andrea Levy's prizewinning novel Small Island about Jamaicans coming to Britain after the war. Or watch it here any time up to next Thursday, 25 June. I loved this bittersweet book and saw it on stage last year with equal enjoyment. Dare I say, the themes are topical too.

The V and A have had to postpone their exhibition Kimono - Kyoto to Catwalk but you can see some gorgeous pictures and videos on their website here.

The Royal Ballet will be showing their performance of Frederick Ashton's charming ballet La Fille Mal Gardée (with Marianela Nunez and Carlos Acosta) from tomorrow night, Friday 12 June.Click here for details.

Thanks for the information Peter.

We've glad to say that we've just booked our first on-line lecture for the Society. On Thursday 11 June at 2pm, Sian Walters will talk to us on The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao and The Architecture of Frank Gehry. More details in today's e-mail bulletin. Members will get a further e-mail a day or two before with details of how to access the lecture.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd feature one of the great American painters of the 20th century Edward Hopper. He's especially relevant at this time for his depictions of isolation. There's a good video talk about him here. The Fondation Beyler in Swizerland has a current exhibition of his work, focusing on landscapes. You can see highlights described by the curator here For more about Hopper’s life and work go to https://www.edwardhopper.net/ Click here for a video montage of many of his paintings.

The National Theatre is now screening the much acclaimed Young Vic production of A Streetcar Named Desire wth Gillian Anderson until next Thursday, while from 5pm tomorrow, Sunday, for a week you can see Glyndebourne's first lockdown performance - Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro

Members will remember Nicola Moorby's excellent lecture to us in January about Turner and Constable. Now you can see her again talking about Turner and the new £20 note, the latest lecture in the Arts Society's fortnightly series. They've all been good but I found her half-hour talk this morning especially facinating - so many interesting Turner- related details of the design of the note. When you've had enough of the sunshine, do watch it at: https://www.connected.theartssociety.org/talks-lectures

This week would normally see the RHS Chelsea Flower show in full swing. While that's no longer possible, the RHS are launching 'virtual Chelsea' on their website at https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/virtual-chelsea. with a range of videos and articles and of course Monty Don in his own garden at Longmeadow. The show will open to RHS Members tomorrow, Monday and then to all from Tuesday to Saturday. As hot weather is forecast for mid-week, maybe it will even be better than melting in the marquees.....

For more garden ideas, you could also watch this video about Prince Charles's Highgrove House, with Alan Titchmarsh.