Art Collections online tours

Explore our art collections online by taking themed virtual tours curated by our own team of specialists. Click on the links below to listen:

The Theatrical Gaze 

Join Dr Greer Crawley, Royal Holloway, University of London Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Drama, Theatre and Dance, as she talks about her favourite works of art in Royal Holloway's collections from her unique perspective as a scenographer.

Rights and Rebellions in Victorian Art

In Rights and Rebellions in Victorian Art, Assistant Curator Dr Michaela Jones looks at the long nineteenth century - a period of major social, political, and economic upheaval. The tour explores how artists of the Victorian period contributed to wider debates surrounding poverty, justice and liberty. 

British Landscapes in Royal Holloway's Picture Gallery

Victorian landscape paintings provide an insight into contemporary attitudes to rural country life, fantasies of place and changing politics of the countryside. Join cultural geographer Eleanor Cooper to explore how landscape paintings in the Picture Gallery fulfil and challenge Victorian experiences and expectations of place. 

Animal Paintings at Royal Holloway

Royal Holloway's Picture Gallery is packed with examples of Victorian animal paintings - including works by some of the most prolific artists of the subject. This tour offers an introduction to animal painters, and to animals in paintings, in the collection. Learn about some of our most important animal paintings - from the humble to the ambitious - some of which may surprise you.

Audio Description Tour of Royal Holloway's Gallery

Working with Professor Hannah Thompson, an expert in audio description, Royal Holloway's Art Collections have created this tour, allowing visitors to explore some of our paintings through audio descriptions provided by people from across the college. The project is ongoing and is currently on hold due to Covid-19, but we are planning to create descriptions for all the works on display in our Picture Gallery. This tour is designed particularly for visually-impaired visitors. It is part of our ongoing objective to make our collections accessible for all.