Dyrham Park, Gloucestershire. Photo by Rwendland / Wikipedia

Perhaps no filmmakers in cinematic history have attained the status of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, whose 44-year collaboration holds the Guinness World Record for the longest partnership in independent film history. Their company, Merchant Ivory Productions, created some of the most beloved, sophisticated films of the 1980s and 1990s.

Using top British actors and luscious sets, the company created movies that portrayed an early 20th-century world of privilege and beauty—an imaginary place filled with cultured, genteel, inhibited characters who occupied splendid country houses set in sublime landscapes. Curt’s lecture will examine the magical settings of Merchant Ivory’s four most memorable English films: A Room with a View, Maurice, Howards End, and The Remains of the Day and how their influential legacy remains with us today.

Curt DiCamillo is American Ancestors' Curator of Fine Art. As part of the Education team, he curates American Ancestors' large art collection, lectures around the world, and hosts the celebrated American Ancestors Art & Architecture webinar series.