Susan Owens is an art historian and curator. She is the author of ‘The Ghost: A Cultural History’ (Tate Publishing) and co-author of ‘Christina Rossetti: Poetry in Art’ (Yale University Press)

Features
Photograph taken at Balmoral in 1893/94 by Charles Albert Wilson. Ethel Cadogan, Lord William Cecil and Dr Alexander Profeit re-enact a scene from Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott in which Rebecca and a page kneel over Ivanhoe. Royal Collection Trust/© HM Queen Elizabeth II 2020

Making a scene – how the Victorians brought the past to life

Recreating scenes from famous paintings has been all the rage of lockdown, but it’s the Victorians who first played make-believe in earnest

7 May 2020
Reviews
In the Bezestein, El Khan Khalil, Cairo (1860), John Frederick Lewis. Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery

Cairene conversions – the adopted identities of John Frederick Lewis

The Victorian painter certainly had a penchant for play-acting, but his depictions of Egypt remain something of an enigma

2 Oct 2019

Current Issue

May 2020

In the news

Queen Mathilde of Belgium and King Philippe of Belgium visi the permanent collection of the Old Masters Museum, part of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, on May 19, 2020 in Brussels, as the country eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Daina Le Lardic/Belga/AFP via Getty Images

How will museums bring us close to art in an era of social distancing?

As museums around the world prepare to reopen, many do so with a renewed sense of purpose

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in January 2020.

Trial by fire – the rush to rebuild Notre-Dame

Was the pledge to restore the cathedral in just five years a reasonable commitment or a rash promise?

Most popular

  • google_a
  • comments
  • Recent

Podcast

The Apollo 40 under 40 podcast: Mohamad Hafez

The Syrian-born, US-based artist talks to Gabrielle Schwarz about his sculptural dioramas of cities ravaged by war – and offers a message of hope for the future

Art news daily

The week in art news – Susan Rothenberg (1945–2020)

The week in art news – UK galleries and auction houses to reopen from 1 June

The week in art news – MoMA takes a ‘chainsaw’ to its budget

Latest Comment

In a global health crisis, science museums have a lot to offer – even while shut

A tribute to Thomas W. Sokolowski (1950–2020)

‘We are pretty well practised at isolation’ – how artists have been coping with quarantine