Features

The long and bloody history of Smithfield Market

The recent decision to close the meat market for good marks the end of a certain idea of the City of London and perhaps even Britain’s sense of itself

13 Dec 2024

‘Somehow they seem more naked than if they were disrobed’ – John Banville on a late work by Rubens

Rubens’s technical skill and attention to detail give The Garden of Love its heightened sense of erotic potential

10 Dec 2024

A fitting tribute to Dior

An imaginative exhibition in The Hague stresses how much the fashion house still owes to its founder

9 Dec 2024

The wild imagination of Maurice Sendak

The true gift of the author of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ was to see the world like a child and blur the line between dreams and reality

7 Dec 2024

Heralding Mouton Rothschild’s entry into the modern age

As the chateau unveils its latest wine label, Gérarde Garouste is inspired by a key figure in its recent past

1 Dec 2024

In Turin, the world’s oldest Egyptian museum turns 200

Museums devoted solely to Egyptian antiquities are rare and Turin’s also tells the story of Italy’s long and complex relationship with the land of the pharaohs

30 Nov 2024

Plate expectations – a brief history of artist-designed crockery

Picasso, Lichtenstein, Emin and others have all designed plates, but treating them only as art objects ruins the fun

28 Nov 2024

Tirzah Garwood in her own words

As a large exhibition of her work opens in London, this modern British artist’s autobiography makes for a colourful companion piece

26 Nov 2024

The ancient art of winemaking in Tunisia

From ancient Roman mosaics to modern vineyards, the country has a rich history of winemaking

25 Nov 2024

What do museums really think about climate protests?

The targeting of well-known artworks for shock value puts institutions in a bind. Should they engage with the protestors, or are they turning away from the issues being raised?

25 Nov 2024

Rachel Ruysch says it with flowers

The Dutch artist’s floral paintings might look merely decorative but, as curator Bernd Ebert explains, they encapsulate a world of economic and scientific change in the early modern Netherlands

25 Nov 2024

The wizard of a painter who created the world of Oz

As the creator of the backdrops for some of the most beloved Hollywood films, George Gibson has a claim to being one of the most influential artists of his time

22 Nov 2024

The man with the fantastic light machines

In designing his eccentric inventions, the mid-century artist Thomas Wilfred created a whole new genre of art, the influence of which can still be felt today

20 Nov 2024

Acquisitions of the month: October 2024

A massive bequest of Old Masters and a huge painting of a procession of giants are among the most important works to have entered museum collections recently

19 Nov 2024

At the world’s northernmost medieval cathedral, religious art takes an agnostic turn

A collage series by Håkon Bleken in Nidaros Cathedral meditates on Christian imagery as well as the traumas of Norwegian history

18 Nov 2024

‘As an image of victimhood, Cat in a Crate beats many a crucifixion’

Lucy Ellmann is troubled by an eerily realistic 19th-century painting of a cat behind bars

16 Nov 2024

A new look for Japanese art at the MFA Boston

The museum holds the world’s largest collection of Japanese art outside Japan itself – and now has suitably meditative spaces to match

14 Nov 2024

How Oxford became a pale shade of its former self

The replacement of Boswell’s department store with a luxury hotel is part of a beautification process that has gathered pace in recent years

11 Nov 2024

When it comes to pudding or dessert, what’s in a name?

The language we use to describe the sweet course at the end of a meal is more revealing than we think

9 Nov 2024

The plane crash that made it into a museum

Christian Boltanski’s installation at the Museo per la Memoria di Ustica is a stark tribute to the victims of an unsolved tragedy

6 Nov 2024

The city of Linz is all about the future – but that wasn’t always the case

Given Hitler’s unrealised plans for a museum of looted art in Linz, the futuristic Ars Electronica festival is a triumph for the city, but there’s no room for complacence

30 Oct 2024

How to be buried in style in ancient China

Ching-Ling Wang of the Rijkmuseum explains what we do and don’t know about a bronze Han-dynasty horse and its rider made as a burial offering

28 Oct 2024

Inside the mysteries of Van Cleef and Arpels

The jeweller generally reveals precious little about its process, but Apollo gains access to the site in Paris where the magic happens

28 Oct 2024

The French vineyard turning winemaking into a cottage industry

Château Smith Haut Lafitte is a vineyard sprinkled with the sensibility of an English country garden

28 Oct 2024