The art of mysticism: Evelyn Underhill’s visual art and journeys in Europe

Evelyn Underhill is best known as a theologian, mystic, and spiritual director – remembered by the Church each year on the 15th June. In the 1900s, long before her fame, she travelled extensively in Italy and France, painting, drawing and writing as she journeyed to glorious cathedrals, rural churches, and historic museums.

Marking the 150th anniversary year of her birth, this event explores her lesser-known art and writing. The Revd Ayla Lepine will guide us on a pilgrimage with Underhill as a companion through the sacred art and architecture of Chartres, Amiens, Assisi, Siena, Venice, and beyond.

The Revd Ayla Lepine is Associate Rector at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, before which she was Ahmanson Fellow in Art and Religion at the National Gallery. She has a PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and her book Women, Art, God will be published in 2026. She is a trustee of the Art and Christianity, a Visiting Scholar at Sarum College in Spirituality and the Imagination, and a member of the St Paul’s Cathedral Visual Arts Committee.

The event is free, but if you are able to make a donation to the continuing learning programme at St Paul’s Cathedral when you register for the event we would be very grateful.

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