Features
The museum that introduced America to modern art
As the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. celebrates its centenary, the museum is also looking firmly to the future
Jewel identity – what can we glean from gems and minerals in museums?
In museums, minerals are both everyday matter and also objects of scientific interest – but they carry more intangible meanings too
The billboards that are turning Venice into an eyesore
Luxury brands are certainly contributing to the conservation of Venice – but massive advertisements on historic buildings are starting to spoil the views
Dostoevsky’s distrust of the West ran deep – but so did his love of the Old Masters
The novelist revered Raphael’s Sistine Madonna – and Holbein’s Dead Christ almost induced an epileptic fit
Looking for the lost women of modern Turkish art
In Istanbul, an exhibition of works created by women between 1850 and 1950 has made some impressive finds
Missionary position – David Livingstone’s birthplace gets a makeover
It’s not easy to repackage a museum devoted to a Victorian missionary, but the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum has pulled it off
Poussin’s dancers pass the test of time
Time is suspended in Nicolas Poussin’s paintings of dancers who revel in the viewer’s attention
The Aztec origins of John Dee’s famous mirror are quite the mystery
The discovery that the astrologer’s ‘scrying glass’ is made of obsidian from Mexico points to the complex global webs surrounding many Tudor objects
Industrial revolutions – at the Museum of Making in Derby
The spirit of innovation and manufacture lives on in the Midlands city – as a redeveloped museum on the site of the old silk mill makes clear
The streetwise ways of the Museum of Homelessness
From street actions to art exhibitions, the organisation empowers homeless people to tell their own stories
Britain’s oldest botanical garden goes back to its roots
Oxford Botanic Garden has played a vital role in the evolution of plant science since it was founded 400 years ago
Has a long-lost Artemisia finally come to light?
Painted in around 1625, the Penitent Mary Magdalene inspired a host of copies before disappearing. Now, it has resurfaced in a private collection
‘A kind of high-minded amusement park’ – at Frank Gehry’s Luma Arles
Will the glittering new arts complex bring about a ‘Bilbao effect’ in the southern French city?
A sentimental education – the sisters who learnt to paint with the Pre-Raphaelites
Lucy and Catherine Madox Brown studied with their father and had close connections to the Pre-Raphaelites – but their achievements have been overlooked until now
The artist searching for traces of the Tunisian revolution
Frustrated that memories of more hopeful times are fading, the artist Intissar Belaid is determined to preserve what she can
‘For the full Indiana Jones experience, it is best approached on horseback’
The spectacular cave monastery of Sabereebi in Georgia is full of frescoes as stunning as their rocky setting
Admissible evidence – museum directors have their say on vaccine passports
Museum directors in France and Italy seem to agree that requiring proof of vaccination is preferable to being shut – although not everyone is on board
The man who got Lucian Freud to pose as a Henry Moore
The legendary picture editor Bruce Bernard was famously modest about his own photography, but his portraits of Lucian Freud are peerless
The failed Italian revolutionary who dedicated himself to Asian art
After his failure in politics, Henri Cernuschi succeeded in finance – and left an outstanding collection of Asian art to his adoptive city of Paris
Venice’s crumbling palazzos are crying out for more buyers like Anish Kapoor
The artist plans to turn a dilapidated palace into a lively new cultural venue – and the city needs others to follow his example
The visionary artist who saw into the mind of John Soane
Joseph Gandy’s dramatic paintings turned John Soane’s neoclassical designs into full-blown Romantic fantasies
The goofy and garish Victorian pottery that was a very serious business
Mass-produced majolica has often been sneered at – but its exuberance is what makes it so appealing
Tourist for a day – the Tower of London is quite the tour de force
The Crown Jewels are what the castle is most famous for, but over the centuries it has housed everything from prisoners to military hardware
The Neue Nationalgalerie’s restoration is so subtle you might not notice – and that’s a good thing
David Chipperfield’s cool, if costly, renovation plays to the gallery’s minimalist strengths
Suzanne Treister’s tarot offers humanity a new toolbox