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Julia Abel Smith

@juliaabelsmith.bsky.social
102 followers 90 following 63 posts

Author of 'Forbidden Wife', biography of Lady Augusta Murray (1761-1830), previous Duchess of Sussex. Paintings & sculpture; Georgian buildings; hatchments & monuments; Essex, Suffolk, Cambridge & Scotland.

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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Cambridge Assistant Library Staff Forum @alsfcam.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Spectacular views from Selwyn for the lucky attendees on the library tour! #ALSF2026
A view of Cambridge including some college  buildings with blue sky and trees.A view of Cambridge with the University Library tower. A view of the Selwyn green lawns.
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Ancient carving showing up gently in the western sun at #Lavenham Church
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
An injection of yellow like a fizz of sherbet fountain to cheer the end of the week with this #1750s striped robe à la française. Bright and breezy and sunny perfect for welcoming the weekend #coraginsburg #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
Back view of a bright yellow and white striped silk satin gown with deep central Watteau pleat and fitted elbow length sleeves
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Waterford St Michael & All Angels, a small church near Hertford, also has glorious Morris and Burne-Jones stained glass. Architect, Henry Woodyer, Powell opus sectile work and 20th century glass by Christopher Whall.
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Andrew Shore @andrewshore.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
And here’s Whistlejacket in cake form, baked and painted by my wife! More #BakeOff art here artuk.org/discover/sto...
A cake designed to look like a framed painting of a horse, facing right, slightly rearing up, mocked up with two Playmobil figures looking at it as if it were in a gallery
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Sophia McDougall @sophiamcdougall.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
If you are or know someone looking to adopt a kitten in London, please get in touch. She's scared but nevertheless already very friendly and likes to sit on laps.
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Two new tea towel designs have hit the shelves of our shop, and online shop! 🐴 Shop online www.munningsmuseum.org.uk/product-category/tea-towels/ Suffolk Horse, Lavenham Two Lady Riders Under an Evening Sky
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Brading, #IsleofWight, has one of the prettiest and cohesive churchyards anywhere: headstones are all of the lovely island stone. Inside are the famous recumbent Oglander tombs.
Brading church, Isle of Wight from NE
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Martin Lewis @martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com · 23/07/2026
Pls spread word. Three digits can help protect you from scams: 159. If you're suspicious of a 'call from your bank', politely hang up and dial 159. It connects you to a switchboard that puts you through to your bank's real number. Watch the video for why its extra protection
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Join our Curator’s Tour on Wednesday 24th June 🐴 11am to 12.30pm
£17, concessions available Buy tickets online www.munningsmuseum.org.uk/product/cura...
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
So touching. Velut Umbra: like a shadow. A thoroughly smug skeleton, spade in hand, smilingly does his hideous work.
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British Association for Local History @balhnews.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The Saffron Walden Historical Society has announced the relaunch of its long-running Historical Journal, with a redesigned full-colour edition due to return in spring 2026. Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/news-relaunc... #WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
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eastlondongroup.bsky.social @eastlondongroup.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Continuing our Kent theme this week, here's a little watercolour of "The Harbour Master's Office, Ramsgate" by Elwin Hawthorne from c.1931/32 along with a wood-block image of the view (which is reversed), preparatory sketch (right way round) & his archive photo of the scene. #ElwinHawthorne #Kent
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
In the 250th anniversary year of the birth of John Constable a second exhibition explores the influence of Constable on the life and work of Sir Alfred Munnings.
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Friends of Friendless Churches @friendlesschurches.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
From ruined church to stained-glass workshop, St Peter’s, Wickham Bishops in Essex is one of our greatest success stories. 1/12 📷 © Adrian Powter
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Friends of Friendless Churches @friendlesschurches.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Ben has also produced four other windows for St Peter’s, which depict St Helena, St Cedd, St Peter and St Bartholomew. In the window, St Cedd holds the chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, which is one of the oldest church buildings in England. 10/12 📷 © Chris Parkinson
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Look at that ironwork and it is all so beautifully uncluttered.
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Brigitte Webster @tudorfoodrecipe.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Flower arrangement inspired by Michael Wolgemut’s Virgin and Child with St. Anne (before 1510) at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.
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eastlondongroup.bsky.social @eastlondongroup.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Here's another one that I haven't shown for a very long time! This is "Stoke by Nayland" by Harold Steggles from 1933. It seems to me to be a bit of an "outlier" where Harold's work is concerned but it is lovely, nonetheless. #HaroldSteggles #EastLondonGroup
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Bonaiuti?
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Joseph Wright of Derby depicts children with sympathy and affection: his exhibition at the National Gallery is a delight
Two young children watch a demonstration of an orrery , the little girl with her arm around a younger boy
Three little children wait while a horseshoe is made at the blacksmith’s - the younger girl peeps out from the elder’s apron
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
King’s Parade before William Wilkins got to work.
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Worn On This Day @wornonthisday.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Boots, breeches, dusters, and neckties worn #onthisday in 1927 by three women from the East Anglia Institute of Agriculture at the Essex Pig Show and Sale in Chelmsford, UK. #OTD @gettyimages.com
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Trustee of the museum, Hugo Parker later commented “Our volunteers are buzzing after the visit and it is so good to see.”
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Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Following the tour of the pictures, Their Majesties viewed the newly restored Garden-Room at Castle House, for which they later unveiled a commemorative plaque, and spoke with a number of artists involved in the museum’s activity programme.
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Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Their Majesties also looked at pencil studies, done at various racecourses on the backs of racecards, and letters and photographs from the museum’s large archive of personal ephemera.
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Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
On Thursday afternoon, The King and Queen took a tour of the Munnings Art Museum in Dedham, Essex. The museum is at Castle House, the former home of the East Anglian artist Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) and is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2026.
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Art UK @artukdotorg.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Great news! 🙌 Art UK will be relaunching our crowdsourcing platform Art Detective, thanks to a grant from @wolfsonfdn.bsky.social Find out more 👉 artuk.org/discover/sto... 🧑‍🎨 Mary Winifrid Smith (1904–1992) © the artist's estate. 📷 @nationaltrust.org.uk
artuk.org
Art UK to relaunch crowdsourcing platform Art Detective with funding from the Wolfson Foundation
Art UK is preparing to relaunch its innovative artwork knowledge crowdsourcing platform Art Detective. The rebuild is being made possible thanks to a £65,370 grant from the Wolfson Foundation, with ad...
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John Vigar FSA @johnevigar.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
In November 1959 Jean Cocteau spent a week decorating a side chapel in the Church of Notre Dame de France just off Leicester Square in London. The subjects are The Annunciation, Crucifixion and Assumption
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ande91.bsky.social @ande91.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
St John's Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, Scotland
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
From this view taken from Lamport Hall you would never guess that the A508 runs between the church and house. Interestingly, ‘BB’ Denys Watkins-Pitchford, who wrote ‘The Little Grey Men’, lived at the rectory. @mcculloughp.bsky.social
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Robert Fletcher @fryerningframe.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Should mention another one erected at the same time as part of the Essex Women's Commemoration Project. #SmashingRockSisters #EWCP A #Sherrin double
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Beautiful headstone Lida Cardozo Kindersley designed for my brother in Lavenham Cemetery
Slate headstone with lettering designed by Lida Lopes Cardozo Kindersley
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Yes. Loved Daisies are our silver, Buttercups our gold. We were allowed to choose the hymn when it was our birthday - exciting times!
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Songs of Praise with a blue cover 💙
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Look and Learn Treasure Happy Days
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Doctors’ monuments at Holt in Norfolk
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Brassed off?
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Castle House is beginning to look beautifully autumnal 🍂 Just over two months to visit our 2025 displays & current special exhibition ‘A Long, Glittering Line’ which marks the centenary of Sir Alfred Munnings painting the Royal Procession to Ascot, a commission from Queen Mary in 1925 👑
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Lyndsey Stonebridge @lyndseystonebri.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Rebel nuns breakout of care home & re-occupy their home. As I've been saying: old women are the future. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Defiant nuns flee Austrian care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps
Sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita needed a locksmith to get back into their convent, defying Church leaders.
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Also gone is the sugar beet factory at Felsted, where they planted roses all along the fence on the road to Little Dunmow.
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Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
It’s the first day of September! How could we not post ‘September Afternoon’ 🛶 The son of a miller, Munnings was captivated by the sights and sounds of the river. ☂️ September Afternoon on the Stour, 1939, Oil on canvas
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Simon Knott @simonknott.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Ickworth House, Suffolk, seen from the sky yesterday.
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
I visited yesterday and the exhibition is marvellous - showing just how much preparation Munnings did for this project - hours spent sketching (Lady Munnings modelled for Queen Mary) site visiting and mulling things over. Bravo for managing to borrow the huge oil from The Tate.
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Sarah Elizabeth Cox @oispooky.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Clacton Library (built 1967) is getting knocked down soon because of fools, more fools, and the University of Essex. Look how delicious it is. A little extension on a less sexy side would have been fine. Sad.
One end of Clacton Library, a 1960s concrete building, long thin windows run along the top half, geometric concrete shapes on the bottom.
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Reposted by Julia Abel Smith
Simone @monalunasimone.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
There were so many shelves with a variety of fashion accessories in this museum. My eye was quickly drawn to what looks like to me the iconic early #19thc pineapple reticule! (cc: @julieinstitches.bsky.social @nemgarrett.bsky.social) #RegencyFashion #dresshistory
Lighting was anything but optimal. Tried to edit this pic to at least get some of the colours to show, but the result is middling. But it clearly is pineapple shaped, and to me it looks like the iconic reticule, but I’m no expert!
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Julia Abel Smith @juliaabelsmith.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
On #InternationalCatDay my favourite cat-themed artwork is Philip Wilson Steer's utterly delightful 'Hydrangeas' featuring a woman playing with a black cat with a white bib, from #TheFitzwilliamMuseum, Cambridge.
Philip Wilson Steers painting: Hydrangeas features a woman sitting on a loosely draped sofa dangling her necklace in front of a black and white cat with a pot of white hydrangeas to the left.
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Munnings Art Museum @munningsartmuseum.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
August in full bloom 🌳🌲 “I write this out of doors on an August evening. Not a breath of wind. Already one of the robins which keep me company is singing his bright song in the wellingtonia, proclaiming that summer is on the wane, that autumn is near.” Sir Alfred #Munnings in his Autobiography
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John Constable RA @johnconstablera.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Good Day! The Pant Valley, Summer 1960, 1963 by John Aldridge RA Oil on Canvas (The Royal Academy)
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