The Little Grand Tour is dedicated to introducing children to great art, usually through trips around museums such as The National Portrait Gallery or the Victoria & Albert Museum. For its appearance at Masterpiece (June 28-July 4) it will offer shorter, 30-minute tours for children of ages seven to 12 each featuring on various themes such as portraiture.
“I’m hoping it will encourage children to appreciate art from early on and to enjoy looking a paintings and works of art,” the company’s founder Isabel Lamb told ATG. “It can generate discussion and sometimes they will go back and show their parents what they’ve seen.”
In addition to the tours, she has created a treasure map of art and antiques that will take young visitors on a path around the event’s stands.
“It is vital for Masterpiece London to help foster a younger generation of art lovers,” said the fair’s chairman Philip Hewat-Jaboor, adding that The Little Grand Tour was a way to “stimulate enjoyment and curiosity and encourage learning in children”.
Also new this year is a symposium on June 30 at the fair where developing academics, curators and ‘emerging stars’ of the art and antiques trade will have a platform to present papers.
Continuing initiatives include a family day as well as a vetting school, which provides younger specialists with experience and training in vetting works.
