A Date with History: Ink, Paint, Bricks with Prof. Mike Olmert

A Date with History Lecture Series
“Ink, Paint, Bricks: Intention & Ambiguity in the Arts”
Wednesday, March 20th , 2024 at 1pm
See below for reservation details
This lecture, presented by Professor Michael Olmert, is based on his forthcoming book Ink, Paint, Bricks: Intention & Ambiguity in the Arts.
Similar to the first two lectures in this mini-series, this illustrated talk will cover one painting, one building, and one poem. The painting: JMW Turner’s 1840 oil, entitled Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhon Coming On, is an important moment in both the Abolition movement and the history of British art. The most famous passage in John Ruskin’s Modern Painters (1852) covers Turner’s record of this nightmare. Art criticism would never be the same. The building: Homewood (1801-09), a classic 5-part Tidewater home built by Charles Carroll, Jr., son of a signer of Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll. It’s plainly meant to be seen as an Italian villa, perhaps even by Andrea Palladio (1508-80), overlooking the burgeoning industrial and maritime town in Baltimore. The poem: T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, concentrating on the 4th Quartet, entitled Little Gidding (1942). It’s about making sense of an impossibly insane world. “We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.”
Overall, Olmert’s new book is to do with intention, interpretation, and meaning in writing, art, and architecture. The book will have ten chapters, each covering one building, one painting and one novel, play or poem.
Professor Olmert has been teaching Shakespeare and drama at the University of Maryland English Department for 37 years. This is his third THS lecture based on this forthcoming book. He’s also spoken at THS on “Easton’s NeoClassical and NeoGothic world” and “The Invention of Colonial Williamsburg.”
His books include The Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg (1985-2016), The Smithsonian Book of Books (1992), Milton’s Teeth & Ovid’s Umbrella (1996), and Kitchens, Smokehouses, & Privies (2009). His television writing has won three Primetime Emmys. He’s written 80 TV documentaries, as well as 5 books, 7 plays, 3 feature films, an IMAX film, and over 200 articles, essays, and reviews. In 2005, he was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame.
Date: Wednesday March 20th, 2024 at 1pm
Location: 25 S. Washington Street, Easton, Maryland Admission: $10 for non-members, FREE for THS members, students and children
Reservations are required and the cost is
FREE for THS members and $10 for non-members.
If you have any questions or wish to sign-up,
please contact the Talbot Historical Society at
410-822-0773 or email