Event Type: Talks

Join museum volunteer Denise Lindsay for a free walking tour to discover the hidden history of High Wycombe’s High Street.

Starting at Pann Mill at 10am, ending at Wycombe Museum at approximately 11.30am.

Please book below to secure your place.

This walking tour is free, but we are gladly accepting donations. You can make a donation as your ticket purchase, or in the museum at the end of the tour.

An illustrated talk by artist Cally Trench about the Museum’s charming portrait of a young man with a parrot, Joseph Pettifer, painted by a popular 18th-century portrait painter,  Joseph Highmore.

Joseph Pettifer belonged to a wealthy and powerful local family, some of whom had been mayors of High Wycombe, as is recorded in a wall monument in All Saints’ Church. Young Joseph died in 1748 at the age of 19, three years after this portrait was painted.

Joseph Highmore (c1692 – 1780) was well-regarded portrait painter, who also painted ‘conversation pieces’ and scenes from Samuel Richardson’s best-selling novel ‘Pamela’.

The talk will include a discussion of the multi-layered symbolism of parrots in art and the meanings of the hand-on-hip posture.

The portrait can be seen in Wycombe Museum’s Art Gallery.

This talk is free to attend. Please consider making a donation if you are able to do so.

Suggested donation £5 per person.