Art goes AWOL at the Palace of Westminster

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories.

Last week, a Freedom of Information request from MailOnline led to the revelation that more than 200 works of art in the Parliamentary Art Collection are unaccounted for. Among the missing works are a portrait of Pitt the Younger by Robert Dighton, a watercolour depicting the Thames by William Capon and – appropriately enough – a political sketch by the late Daily Express cartoonist Carl Giles entitled I think your ‘Yah boo’ was frightfully good constructive criticism.

In other news…

The Van Gogh Museum has partnered with – what else? – shoe brand Vans to produce a new clothing range incorporating elements of poor old Vincent’s paintings. Highlights include details from the drawing Old Vineyard with Peasant Woman printed onto ‘Old Skool’ sneakers and trademark Vans slip-ons embellished with Vincent’s letters to his brother, Theo.

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An artist has created a painting of Charles Manson that incorporates some of the late mass murderer’s ashes. ‘[It’s] creepy as hell,’ says the owner of the venue in Las Vegas in which the work will be displayed.

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And finally, Norman Foster has at long last found a mode of transport worthy of his jazzy wardrobe…

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