National Gallery Crash Course

A gap year working in the frenetic world of women's fashion in Milan prepared Prue well for an undergraduate degree in Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge University, where she used linguistic flourish and copious coffees to confront courses in French and Italian art, literature, history and culture. Her final year topics reflected her lifelong love of Dante and Renaissance Italian art and literature. Prue spent her year abroad studying the history of Renaissance Venetian art at Ca' Foscari University, during which time she wrote a dissertation on the erotic dialogues of Pietro Aretino. She recently a Master's degree in the History of Renaissance Design and Material Culture taught at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal College of Art in London. Her research has focused on fashion, the domestic interior and the decorative arts in Renaissance Venice. Her dissertation is on doors and door furniture from this period. Prue worked for three summers as a registered tour guide of the mosaics in St Mark's Basilica in Venice and for the last four years has led cultural tours around Europe for American students. She has been accepted in Warwick University's PhD program and will return to Venice in 2009 to begin her research.

Sarah Ciacci has lived and worked in London all her life, but pops over to Rome fairly often. After completing her MA in History of Art at University College London, specialising in late 19th Century French Painting and mid 20th Century Art, she has worked in different areas of the contemporary art world in both London and Rome, before deciding to focus on gallery education. This necessitated a far greater knoweldge base, so Sarah trained to be a guide and qualified as a City of London Guide and as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide in 2008. She now works as a guide, specialising in Museums and Galleries as well as tours for children and young people, she teaches courses in art history and the history of London at the University of Richmond and works as a gallery educator at the National Portrait Gallery and the Dulwich Picture Gallery, specialising in tours for older people and people with Dementia.

Sue King was born a Londoner and has lived in several other cities including Seoul, Berlin and Washington DC. Since returning to London, she has spent the last three years studying its art, architecture, literature and history. Sue holds a research MPhil in History of Art from the Barber Institute, Birmingham University and has specialist knowledge of Victorian Britain through her study of its painting and literature. Her thesis, on symbolism in Victorian Art, focused on the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and she has also made studies in 20th Century American art. Sue is fascinated by London's history and is most interested in the artists and writers who have helped to define it. She loves to recount stories of their lives and works, and their connections with each other and the city.