Art History UK

 

The charismatic guides of this boutique cultural tour company will bring the treasures of London alive through tours, talks and walks around the capital

 

• Founder Rose Balston (pictured left in the Sir John Soane's Museum) has been named a Condé Nast Traveller London Art Expert

• Private tours can be organised to suit your particular interests, from 21st-century Street Art to the Italian Renaissance

• Unrivalled acccess to galleries, museums, houses and collections, often including locations not open to the public

• Exclusive dinners or luncheons at London's prestigious clubs and restaurants

• Off-the-beaten track locations

• Engaging and knowledgable guides

• Corporate tours or evening art shots that fit easily with business trips

• Day-long, afternoon or evening events to suit your schedule

• Treasure Hunts especially designed for children

• Mark Hedges, editor of Country Life mgazine, says of his experience with Art History UK: 'We were inspired to levels of wonder'

 

Examples of participating locations:

• Leighton House Museum (pictured in background), a Victorian treasure house

• Westminster Abbey, with a rare trip to the triforium

• The Wallace Collection, an 18th-century town house with an astonishing collection. Breakfast, dinner or drinks can be arranged

• British Museum Print Room, full of works by Michelangelo, Durer and Rembrandt

• Spitalfields, with private access to Dennis Severs' House, a seldom-opened Georgian/Victorian house developed by a 20th-century American

• Tate Modern, where an expert will tell the stimulating story of contemporary art

• St Paul's Cathedral (left), Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece

 

Example of a public day tour: Wellington & Waterloo at Apsley House. Revealing the private life of Britain's great military commander, whose superb art collection includes works by Rubens, Velazquez, Corregio and Rembrandt. ₤42 ($65) per person