Rakewell
Homeschooling with Danny Dyer
BBC Bitesize has announced that Danny Dyer and Sergio Agüero are among the celebrities joining its homeschooling programme. But who’s going to teach art?
A cultural tour of Jon Snow’s bookshelves
Rakewell has been eyeing up the broadcaster’s learned library while watching Channel 4 News
Curatorial cocktails at the Frick
The curators at the Frick are to brighten up cocktail hour in Manhattan – and Rakewell is already pouring himself a drink
Homemade masterworks – from the sublime to the ridiculous
With oodles of toilet paper and canned fish, it seems anyone can recreate an artistic masterpiece at home
Au revoir, Albert Uderzo – on Asterix in different tongues
Rakewell bids farewell to the co-creator of Asterix by taking a tour through his characters – and how their names have shifted in translation
The Courtauld quizzers come a cropper
After a solid run on University Challenge, the Courtauld team met its match in Jesus College, Oxford – and too many questions about art history
Don’t stand so close to me! Art in an age of contagion
Some scenes of art appreciation that wouldn’t pass muster in stricter viewing conditions
Has the tomb of Romulus really been found – or is someone crying wolf?
Claims that the resting place of the legendary founder of Rome has been discovered cause Rakewell to raise an eyebrow
Star Turner – The Fighting Temeraire, from biscuit tin to banknote
With the new £20 note in circulation, there are now two billion more copies of the much-reproduced painting in existence
The Versailles of Wales, Vienna, Hampstead, Belarus…
Every country has its own Versailles, right? Rakewell rounds them up
Sex Education meets art history
The students of Moordale High have been reimagined as a cast of painted saints and sinners
Michelangelo in the Curva Nord
At the recent Rome derby, the Stadio Olimpico was transformed in the Sistine Chapel (sort of)
The altruism of art theft
An attempt to steal the Magna Carta prompts Rakewell to wonder whether there is such a thing as a public-spirited heist
Sajid Javid in the thick of it
Was the Chancellor of the Exchequer channelling an infamous fictional spin-doctor when he agreed to be interviewed in a Westminster cafe?
Only connect – K-pop beams into the Serpentine Galleries
The Korean boyband BTS is collaborating on a global art project. Rakewell heads down to the Serpentine Galleries to find out why…
A riveting souvenir of the Eiffel Tower
The monument has been celebrating its 130th birthday by peddling limited edition rivets – yours to own for just €525 apiece!
The fine art holdings of Claes Bang’s Dracula
A new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel has Castle Dracula kitted out with silver, tapestries, and suitably sinister portraits
The Royal Academy goes gonzo
This week the institution elected the first female president in its 251-year history. Its Twitter account seems to be taking an *even* more radical direction
From Gold Digger to Gossip Girl – meet cutes at the museum
If films and television are anything to go by, it seems the main raison to go to an art gallery is to find a date
Too close to the bone? Coldplay spends a night at the Natural History Museum
The band performed underneath a skeleton in the museum’s great hall last weekend
The finer points of art appreciation – and some blunt speaking – in ‘The Crown’
The Queen and Prince Philip get some art advice from Anthony Blunt in season three of the lavish drama
The tinselly tat of Trafalgar Square
A small alpine village has set up shop outside the National Gallery – are there any parallels with what’s inside the building?
Prop appeal – Martin Scorsese’s neoclassical stylings
A painting ‘in the style of‘ Hubert Robert catches Rakewell’s eye in a still from Scorsese’s new movie, The Irishman
A bumper crop of arty pumpkins for Halloween
From ancient carvings to contemporary sculpture – a festive harvest of pumpkins in art
Pilgrims’ progress? The Vatican Jubilee has frustrated Romans and tourists alike