Features
What should happen to Paris’s abandoned colonial garden?
The neglect of the Garden of Tropical Agronomy points to a wider ambivalence about what to do with the city’s colonial sites
Making over Umbria’s greatest museum
The Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, home to some of Perugino’s most important works, can now display its outstanding collection in suitably grand style
How Ferdinand I de’ Medici set his might in stone
Curator Alessandra Griffo of the Uffizi tells Apollo how a remarkable pietra dura table-top would have dazzled visitors to the Medici court
The grand restoration of Palazzo Butera
Fresh connections between contemporary art and Old Masters come to the fore in this 400-year-old palace, which has been transformed into a museum and home
The saucy legends of the champagne coupe
The distinctive saucer-shaped glass might have fallen out of fashion, but the tales of its origins still make for titillating table talk
How gastronomic maps paved the way for regional French cooking
The first gastronomic map of France may have been created to serve the appetites of greedy Parisians, but it also opened up new ways of eating
Will Alexander Pope’s underground grotto finally come to light?
The poet’s bejewelled lair on the banks of the Thames was his pride and joy – and its restoration shines new light into the shadowy depths of his mind
What artists are really doing when they take up residencies
Recent initiatives are expanding on the traditional model of patronage through community engagement, cross-disciplinary collaboration and mentorship schemes
Acquisitions of the Month: July 2022
Two significant works by Renaissance masters to the National Gallery in London are among this month’s highlights
How Vernon Lee kept her finger on the pulse of gallery-goers
Long before the invention of the visitor-response survey, the writer was curious about how works of art affected their viewers
The blingy side of Botticelli
The painter’s use of gold in his works suggests a debt to earlier artists – and reveals a more antiquarian side of 15th-century Florence
Playing with fire – how rising fuel prices are endangering Murano’s glass industry
As the cost of gas continues to increase across Europe, the Venetian island’s glassmakers are fighting to preserve a centuries-old tradition
Acquisitions of the Month: June 2022
An outstanding collection of some 900 Japanese cloisonné enamels is among this month’s highlights
The architect whose greatest achievement was the world’s first miniature village
Wolf’s Cove, the model village in Gloucestershire designed by Charles Paget Wade, is proof of the architect’s commitment to creating ideal communities
A culinary education – Claudia Roden’s ode to Jewish cuisine
Twenty-five years after it was first published, ‘The Book of Jewish Food’ remains an invaluable record of the Jewish diaspora and its manifold culinary traditions
Progress report – the Huntington reckons with its past and looks to the future
The Gilded Age institution renowned for its Eurocentric holdings is re-evaluating its history and winning over a wider audience
Why was the Royal Academy so willing to let one of its most treasured pieces go?
Sixty years ago the Royal Academy announced the sale of a cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci to fund its activities, but did it make the right decision?
The restoration of the ruins of York Castle is a towering achievement
All that remains of the city’s two medieval castles is the empty shell of a single tower, now imaginatively restored by Hugh Broughton Architects
Making a stand – the Russian artists saying no to war
Judging where to draw the line between maintaining a safe silence and tacitly endorsing the war in Ukraine has become a pressing matter
Assassination attempts – how Joan Miró set out to destroy painting
The artist produced some of his most innovative and political works at the age of 80 by burning and torturing his canvases and also turning to textiles
Shrine of the times – a Yoruba masterpiece in focus
Curator James Green takes a close look at a carving by Bamigboye, a sculptor who represented the beating heart of his community in the early 20th century
The perfect blend – art and wine at Château Mouton Rothschild
The graphic designer Jean Carlu was the first artist to create a label for the historic wine estate in 1924, marking the beginning of a long-standing tradition
Acquisitions of the Month: May 2022
This month’s highlights include a silver casket that may have played a part in the downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots
Why are New York’s new skyscrapers so bad?
As the Manhattan skyline keeps getting higher, the quality of the skyscrapers crowding the horizon seems to be getting lower and lower
Crafting value in Venice