Apollo's wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories. Got a story for Rakewell? Email rakewell@apollomag.com. Follow @Rakewelltweets.

Sajid Javid in the thick of it

Was the Chancellor of the Exchequer channelling an infamous fictional spin-doctor when he agreed to be interviewed in a Westminster cafe?

25 Jan 2020
K-pop group BTS field questions from Hans Ulrich Obrist at a press conference on 14 January 2019 at the Serpentine in London

Only connect – K-pop beams into the Serpentine Galleries

The Korean boyband BTS is collaborating on a global art project. Rakewell heads down to the Serpentine Galleries to find out why…

14 Jan 2020
Workmen riveting the bases of the Eiffel Tower in place using hydraulic power in c. 1888.

A riveting souvenir of the Eiffel Tower

The monument has been celebrating its 130th birthday by peddling limited edition rivets – yours to own for just €525 apiece!

10 Jan 2020
Claes Bang as Dracula.

The fine art holdings of Claes Bang’s Dracula

A new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel has Castle Dracula kitted out with silver, tapestries, and suitably sinister portraits

3 Jan 2020

The Royal Academy goes gonzo

This week the institution elected the first female president in its 251-year history. Its Twitter account seems to be taking an *even* more radical direction

13 Dec 2019
Julia Ormond as Julia and Ben Barnes as Benjamin in Gold Digger.

From Gold Digger to Gossip Girl – meet cutes at the museum

If films and television are anything to go by, it seems the main raison to go to an art gallery is to find a date

7 Dec 2019
Coldplay Perform At The Natural History Museum

Too close to the bone? Coldplay spends a night at the Natural History Museum

The band performed underneath a skeleton in the museum’s great hall last weekend

29 Nov 2019

The finer points of art appreciation – and some blunt speaking – in ‘The Crown’

The Queen and Prince Philip get some art advice from Anthony Blunt in season three of the lavish drama

24 Nov 2019

The tinselly tat of Trafalgar Square

A small alpine village has set up shop outside the National Gallery – are there any parallels with what’s inside the building?

15 Nov 2019
Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino, who is clearly an art lover, in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (2019).

Prop appeal – Martin Scorsese’s neoclassical stylings

A painting ‘in the style of‘ Hubert Robert catches Rakewell’s eye in a still from Scorsese’s new movie, The Irishman

8 Nov 2019
American Red Cross workers hollowing out pumpkins in preparation for a Halloween Dance at Cheltenham Town Hall in 1944.

A bumper crop of arty pumpkins for Halloween

From ancient carvings to contemporary sculpture – a festive harvest of pumpkins in art

30 Oct 2019
Debbie Harry in 1978.

Art of glass – the many faces of Debbie Harry

The Blondie singer made her mark on the New York art scene, as her memoir reveals

25 Oct 2019
Detail of the portrait unveiled at Birmingham Oratory in 2019.

The saintly sight of Cardinal Newman

Rakewell digs out some portraits of John Henry Newman, the first British person to be canonised for nearly 50 years

18 Oct 2019

Cumberbatch the cat artist brings London to a standstill (sort of)

You’ve heard about the Extinction Rebellion protests… but a 19th-century cat artist is also doing his bit to bring London to a standstill

9 Oct 2019
Congo with Desmond Morris in 1957.

Your chance to own a painting by Congo the chimpanzee

Picasso and Miró were fans – now the gifted simian is getting a solo show in London. Plus other arty animals

7 Oct 2019
The museum formerly named the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. Photo: GAPS

How the museum changed its name

What’s in a new name? For museums it can mean an expensive rebrand that doesn’t stop anyone using the old moniker

4 Oct 2019

‘X discovered under X’ – the archaeologist’s dream?

A Roman fort has been discovered under a bus station in Exeter… and it’s the stuff that headlines are made of, says Rakewell

27 Sep 2019

Travels with Thomas Cook – in 1855

The first overseas tour organised by Thomas Cook took in the International Exhibition in Paris

26 Sep 2019

The quiz wizards of the Courtauld

At last – a Courtauld University Challenge team to be reckoned with

18 Sep 2019

Make your own Smithsonian at home

The all-American interior, of sorts, courtesy of the Smithsonian and a 3D printer

13 Sep 2019

Baby Graysons are taking over Britain (sort of)

For the first time, Grayson is one of the 100 most popular names for baby boys in England and Wales…

2 Sep 2019

A portrait of the artist as Ben Stokes

The Ashes hero bears an uncanny resemblance to Vincent van Gogh – long live the art of cricket!

27 Aug 2019

Donald Trump, the statesman as artist?

Trump-trumpeting painter Jon McNaughton has unveiled his latest masterpiece, and Twitter hasn’t held back

21 Aug 2019

Succession – TV tyranny with a few choice paintings

The Roy family have filched some top pictures from French museums. Or perhaps HBO just gave them some high-quality reproductions

21 Aug 2019