The lecture, the first in the "Watson Gordon Lecture" series, was given by Caroline Elam, an eminent scholar of the Italian Renaissance and fromer editor of the "Burlington Magazine". Her illuminating lecture links Roger Fry's analysis of the paintings of Seurat with his deep understanding of Italian Renaissance art, and explores the connections between his taste for the Post-Impressionists and his love of the early Italians. Established following the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Chair of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and named after the painter Sir John Watson Gordon, the "Watson Gordon Lectures" typify the longstanding and positive collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the National Galleries of Scotland: two partners in the Visual Arts Research Institute in Edinburgh.