Our lecture today was held in the Adams Room, by Dr Susan Deacy. This was a beautiful venue and was most definitely one of my favorite lectures we have had all term. This lecture my attention was most defiantly drawn to “The Garden Temple” which once stood proudly in the grounds Mount Clare sadly now, completely dilapidated, used as a drug den and then caught in a fire last year. It is sad that this happened as this Temple sounded like it would have been of great interest and educational value. However, this said it may be possible to use the disaster to our advantage, for example, to ask questions such as: does the fire add history and depth to the relic? Does the building become more important or less important due to human destruction? Why was this building once so important and now is a viewed as worthless? I might possibly look further into this temple, looking through the archives and asking Susan for further guidance.

The Adam’s Room fireplace panel depicting the myth of Hercules

Later on we looked at the panel which depicts the myth of Hercules, having to pick between Virtue and Vice. We briefly discussed the difference between the reception of this myth in the modern era compared to when this panel would have been made by the Carter Workshop in the 18th century. Even though this is an interesting take on the myth and work of the Carter brothers I don’t think this is will be something I will look into further detail due to the fact that I already have too many topics to decide between.