Lecturers

Tom Abbott graduated in Psychology and Art History at Carleton College, Minnesota, and studied at the Louvre School of Art History in Paris. in 1987 he moved to Berlin leading tours in Germany, specialising, of course, in the German capital.

Roberto Cobianchi studied art history at the Universities of Parma, Milan and Warwick. For several years he was based at the British School at Rome. Roberto is currently Fellow at Villa I Tatti (Harvard University) in Florence and has been appointed assistant lecturer at the University of Messina in Sicily.

Laura De Beden graduated from Milan’s Bocconi University and went on to study Landscape Architecture at the University of Central England. For many years she was lecturer at Kingston University. Laura is passionate about historic gardens and now lectures widely on the subject as a free-lancer.

Oonagh Kennedy trained as a jeweller and is a Courtauld Institute graduate. Formerly a curator at Luton Hoo and part-time lecturer at the University of Buckingham and Birkbeck College, she is now a curator for the National Trust and lectures in French Decorative Arts and Historic Interiors.

Dr Jarl Kremeier specialises in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architecture and decorative arts and is a great raconteur of the lives of the German aristocracy. He studied at the Universities of Würzburg and Berlin, and at the Courtauld Institute. Jarl now lives in Berlin where he teaches Art History at the College of Music.

Nigel studied Classics at Oxford. He is an art historian who has lived and worked in the Mediterranean area – Italy, Greece and Turkey – for over thirty years, working initially for the Ministero dei Beni Culturali (the Italian Ministry of Arts) in the field of wall-painting conservation. He taught at Rome University, for the University of Massachusetts, and was for eight years Dean of the European Studies programme for a consortium of American Universities. He lectures widely in art and archaeology at museums and institutions in Europe and the USA. When at home, he writes, and produces olive oil and wine.

For six years he walked every path and village of the sixty inhabited Greek islands, preparing the most detailed existing survey-guide of their archaeology, history and art. It was published in abbreviated form as the Blue Guide to The Aegean Islands, and in a complete version as the twenty volumes of McGilchrist’s Greek Islands. (www.mcgilchristsgreekislands.com).

Paula Nuttall is a specialist in Italian and Netherlandish Renaissance art. She is Director of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Year Course at the Victoria & Albert Museum and also lectures for the National Gallery and NADFAS. Her book From Flanders to Florence was published by Yale in 2004.

Dr Cathy Oakes is Director of Studies in History of Art at the Department of Continuing Education of the University of Oxford. She is a well-known mediaevalist who has written on Romanesque art and architecture in England and France.

Sue Rollin is an archaeologist, interpreter and lecturer. She has taught at University College London, SOAS and Cambridge University. She is co-author with Jane Streetly of Blue Guide: Jordan and Istanbul: A Traveller’s Guide.

Joachim Strupp specialises in Italian and German Renaissance art. He has been a university lecturer in art history and now lectures independently. He has published a number of articles and has appeared on radio. He was co-founder of Art Pursuits and is now taking Art Pursuits Abroad to its next stage.

Dr Ulrike Ziegler studied art history and archiology at Regensburg and Aberdeen. She has taught at university and in continuing education, specialising in mediaeval art and in cultural politics of post-war Germany. Ulrike was 'discovered' by our clients during the 'Bavarian Danube' tour in 2010.