Details of the lecture
Who’s got our paintings? The story of the Public Catalogue Foundation project
Who’s got our paintings? The story of the Public Catalogue Foundation project
One man’s quest to see a favourite painting at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge led to the remarkable project, now known as ‘Art UK’ (and online), which has catalogued over 210,000 thousand oil paintings in UK public ownership since 2003. The project now moves on to sculpture.
Cataloguers hunted down paintings in damp stores, clambered up dodgy ladders, unrolled masterpieces and sad tatters of canvas. Amanda knows! She was one of them. An extraordinary record has been created, which benefits from public interaction online and has become a wonderful resource for education and pleasure.
Lecturer: Amanda Herries

Amanda Herries ©Richard Eaton, theartssociety.org
Read Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge. 1978-1988 Curator at Museum of London specialising in the decorative arts 1718 to present day, exhibitions, lectures, booklets, broadcasts. 1988-1995 moved with family to Japan, lecturing and writing on Oriental / Western cross-cultural and artistic influences.
1995 returned to UK, fundraising for arts companies, writing, lecturing and guiding tours to Japan. Most recent publications on Japanese plant and garden influences in the West.