Following in the footsteps of the world’s most famous dreamer and knight-errant, this lecture traces his parallel life in the visual arts, where he was variously ridiculed, pitied and revered. The journey will take in the sumptuous tapestry designs of French Academy director Charles Coypel, and their parodies of classical masterpieces. It will examine how Don Quixote helped to fuel a new school of English painting in the work of Hogarth and his circle; and how he became a hero to Daumier and Doré in the Romantic era. The final episode will show Cervantes’ fantasist hero inspiring the imagery of Picasso‘s Guernica – and shaping the “Quixotic” character of the archetypal modern artist.

About the Lecturer

Richard Whincop is a professional artist who graduated in English and Art History from York University in 1986. From 1988-1994 he lectured at the adult education departments of Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, and then went on to become a full-time figurative artist, executing large-scale public commissions, and exhibiting widely throughout the UK. He now lives and works in Chichester, West Sussex.