Features

Carving (c. 1690), Grinling Gibbons.

In praise of Grinling Gibbons, the wizard of woodcarving

The sculptor took Restoration England by storm with his virtuosic woodwork

24 Jul 2021
Dresden from the Right Bank of the Elbe Above the Augustus Bridge (detail; 1747), Bernardo Bellotto.

Bellotto’s views of Dresden tell a tale of two cities

Through the Italian painter’s eyes, the German city became both an idealised version of itself and a surrogate for his native Venice

17 Jul 2021
Portrait of an Unknown Woman (c. 1590–1600), Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger. Photo: Royal Collection Trust/© HM Queen Elizabeth II 2021

Talking heads: the prattling paintings of Renaissance England

Why do paintings and objects from the Tudor and Stuart periods have so much to say for themselves?

15 Jul 2021
Post-match analysis: Wembley Stadium after the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship Final in July 2021.

Will Wembley’s art trail make it any more welcoming?

An art trail at Wembley Park won’t change the behaviour of football fans – but the best works here are at least sensitive to their surroundings

13 Jul 2021
Photo: Hufton & Crow

Towering over the Thames, a heavenly new home for Lambeth Palace Library

One of the world’s greatest collections of medieval manuscripts now has state-of-the-art accommodation, writes Michael Prodger

10 Jul 2021
The Doge’s Room. Photo: Matteo De Fina

Going to the doge’s – the Palazzo Grimani puts on a powerful display

At the Palazzo Grimani, more classical sculptures can now be seen in the splendid rooms in which they were once displayed

7 Jul 2021
The Spanish Steps starring alongside Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953).

Flight of fancy – the spectacle of the Spanish Steps

Sitting on the steps is now forbidden – but for centuries, the monumental staircase has been one of Rome’s most theatrical attractions

7 Jul 2021
The view from Santa Croce in Florence.

Roped in: the acrobatic builders repairing Italy’s historic domes and bridges

A troupe of nimble-footed technicians has been drafted in to restore monuments up and down the country – without a scaffold in sight

7 Jul 2021
Boxing in Camp (The Light Heavy-Weights) (detail; 1918), Laura Knight.

Aesthetic prowess: the artists who competed for Olympic gold

The early Olympic games of the modern era set out to celebrate both ‘muscle and mind’ – which meant that artists were in the mix for medals

3 Jul 2021
Photo: Patrick Tourneboeuf

Bourse majeure – François Pinault’s palace of art

The former stock exchange building in Paris has been filled with blue-chip art from the French billionaire’s collection

28 Jun 2021
The ‘Table Talk’ room at the Museum of the Home, London. Photo: Em Fitzgerald

Food for thought at the Museum of the Home

With Apollo’s food column to fill, Thomas Marks heads to the reimagined museum in East London to inspect its kitchens

28 Jun 2021
A Game of Croquet (1873), Édouard Manet. Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Four sports that have produced some half-decent art

Sport nowhere for most of last year – and now sport everywhere. But there is some passable sport art out there, we promise…

25 Jun 2021
Courtesy London Magnet Fishing

Pulling power – the murky magic of magnet fishing

It’s the aquatic cousin to metal detecting – and an increasing number of devotees are casting off into rivers and canals in search of trash and treasure

24 Jun 2021
Social influencer: Emmanuel Macron announcing the launch of the culture pass for 18 year olds on TikTok.

Emmanuel Macron wants every teenager in France to go on a cultural shopping spree – but will they?

Every 18 year old in France has been given €300 to spend on culture

Installation view of ‘Treasures from Chatsworth’, exhibited at Sotheby’s New York in 2019.

Period drama: do country house exhibitions need a shake-up?

Museums might be better at bringing the contents of grand historic piles to life than the houses themselves

19 Jun 2021
Self-portrait with mirror (1966), Michael Ayrton. Private collection.

Michael Ayrton was a maker of minotaurs – and is himself a forgotten giant

The British artist’s scope and influence have long been neglected – but at the centenary of his birth, will a pair of exhibitions turn the tide?

9 Jun 2021
Tableau piège – Sevilla Serie Nr. 16 (1991), Daniel Spoerri. MOCAK the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow.

The frozen dinners of Daniel Spoerri

The Swiss artist’s tableaux of tables capture the joys of dining in good company

9 Jun 2021
Detail of a work by Fatoş İrwen in ‘Exceptional Times’

For Kurdish artists in Turkey, simply making work is a political act

Works produced in prison by the artist Fatos Irwen speak to the increasingly repressive climate for Kurds in Turkey

8 Jun 2021
Ellen Terry (‘Choosing’) (detail; 1864), George Frederic Watts. National Portrait Gallery, London

Scents and sensibility: why smell counts in art

The visual arts have often toyed with odours and smells, however challenging they are to represent

5 Jun 2021
Eric Carle, creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

‘The greatest story of gluttony’ – on the genius of Eric Carle, creator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The much-loved author cut his teeth on illustrations for medical ad campaigns – which proved ideal training for the world of children’s books

2 Jun 2021
Joseph Cornell with visitors to ‘A Joseph Cornell Exhibition for Children’ at the Cooper Union, New York in 1972. Photo: Denise Hare

All art is for children – and great art can make children of us all

Modern masters from Joseph Cornell to Paul Klee have produced works expressly for children, writes Ben Street – but perhaps all great art is a type of child’s play?

1 Jun 2021
Palazzo Vendramin Grimani (2021), Patrick Tourneboeuf.

On the Grand Canal, this crumbling Venetian palazzo has been given a new lease of life

The Palazzo Vendramin Grimani has opened with a display that reunites some of the paintings it was once home to – plus a helping of contemporary art

27 May 2021
Saint Cecilia (Allegory of Instrumental Music)

Raising the curtain on early Klimt

An early commission by the painter for a public theatre in Rijeka is the subject of a major display in the city this summer

27 May 2021
Still from Story of Yanxi Palace (2018), with the empress wearing a replica of a fengguan (phoenix crown) now in the Palace Museum, Beijing.

An audience with the Qianlong Emperor, via the small screen

The meticulous attention to Chinese decorative arts is as great a draw as the court intrigue in ‘Story of Yanxi Palace’

19 May 2021