This talk is on how magicians have appeared in art throughout the centuries, whether in paintings, satirical prints or cartoons.  Early artists used the magician to symbolise the mysterious and the unknown, associating them with astrology.  In the 16th century Peter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch produced two of the most famous and striking pictures of the conjurer performing the Cups and Balls trick. The 18th and 19th  century saw a proliferation in engravings and lithographs showing the magician both indoors and on the streets.

Ian Keable gained a First Class degree from Oxford University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and then became a Professional Magician.  In 2014 he published Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature.  His latest book is The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England.

He now divides his time between performing magic, giving talks and researching and writing.  He is a Member of the Inner Magic Circle and in 2024 was appointed the Archivist of The Magic Circle.  He is presently writing a biography of David Devant, the first President of The Magic Circle and considered to be England's greatest ever magician.