Rakewell

A brief guide to duelling versions of The Three Musketeers

Eva Green steals every scene in the new version of Alexandre Dumas’s novel – but the new film is just the latest in a long line of swashbuckling adaptations

17 Dec 2023
Shane MacGowan in 1997. Photo: Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images

Shane MacGowan and the most famous shipwreck in art

The Pogues frontman and the Romantic painter are forever linked by a classic album cover – and much more besides

5 Dec 2023

What would Pericles want for the Parthenon marbles?

After a week in which a British prime minister has realised, seemingly for the first time, that Greece would quite like the Parthenon marbles back, it’s worth taking a longer view

3 Dec 2023

Blackpink goes to Buckingham Palace

The K-Pop quartet attended a State Banquet for the South Korean president hosted by the new king – but perhaps its members might take up more permanent residence?

26 Nov 2023

The art of being Barbra

Barbra Streisand’s doorstopper of a memoir suggests that the real love of the star’s life is the painter Modigliani

19 Nov 2023
Nadine Dorries at the Wallace Collection in London

When it comes to culture, the UK has lost the plot – and found Nadine Dorries

Rakewell is delighted to discover that the former culture minister’s memoir contains more than one vague musing about the art of Downing Street

10 Nov 2023

Censorship can be a fiendish business: just ask Joshua Reynolds

Conservation of a painting by the artist has revealed an evil spirit – if only all art censorship were so mild

3 Nov 2023

Is François Pinault slumming it at the Bourse?

The billionaire collector is going for broke with an exhibition of ‘poor art’

27 Oct 2023

Berlusconi’s art collection may soon be bunga-bunga’d into the bin

The late Italian prime minister’s 20,000-strong collection of choice artworks – including a topless rendition of the Mona Lisa – has failed to charm his heirs

20 Oct 2023

Flower power – is Damien Hirst blooming again at Frieze?

While the artist led collectors down the garden path at Gagosian’s sell-out booth, more pleasing floral arrangements can be found at Frieze Masters

13 Oct 2023

Christie’s is getting into the ghostbusting business

Rakewell is delighted to hear that director Ivan Reitman’s art collection is heading to auction this November, but wonders whether his tastes might have been haunted by his blockbuster hit

6 Oct 2023

Leave it to beavers – if you want to build infrastructure in the UK

The sighting of the first beaver kit born in the London area in more than 400 years is a bright spot in the landscape – and a lesson to policymakers everywhere

29 Sep 2023

How often should anyone think about the Roman empire?

While #romanempire has more than a billion view on TikTok, some of us only have eyes for the TV adaptation of ’I Claudius’ – and regrets about the Roman Republic

24 Sep 2023

How to fast-forward through Guernica

The Reina Sofia has lifted its ban on taking selfies with Picasso’s masterpiece in order, incredibly, to speed up visitor flow

15 Sep 2023

Artwashing really works – just ask Theresa May

Judging by reactions to Saied Dai’s well-received painting of the former prime minister, a good portrait can still work wonders

10 Sep 2023

Are museums realising that the best things happen after dark?

Rakewell applauds the ICA London’s revolutionary new opening hours

1 Sep 2023

How to dress like Jane Austen

The Library of Congress’s Literary Costume Ball has set Rakewell thinking about the pros and cons of taking sartorial inspiration from famous authors

27 Aug 2023

A night to remember at the Eiffel Tower

It has been a monumental week for Paris’s leading tourist attraction. Let us hope recent events have distracted La Dame de Fer from an unhappy matter of the heart

18 Aug 2023

I can’t get no… satisfactory statuary

The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have been immortalised in bronze, but it leaves a bad taste in Rakewell’s mouth

11 Aug 2023
David Hockney painting Harry Styles

Doing it in Style – when Harry met Hockney

Two national treasures are going tête-à-tête at the National Portrait Gallery, but this isn’t the pop star’s first brush with a museum

4 Aug 2023

X marks the spot? Probably not in the case of Elon Musk

The social media site has had what Musk dubiously dubs an ‘art deco’ rebrand

24 Jul 2023

Ringing the changes – what’s so special about a telephone box?

Historic England has followed Beyonce’s wise words and put a ring on it, as the iconic K8 phone box has been Grade II-listed

21 Jul 2023

What made Grayson Perry show his true colours?

Rakewell has spotted an infamous shade popping up at art world parties

13 Jul 2023

Madonna keeps her feet firmly off the ground

Clues to the popstar’s creative process can be found on her coffee table – in a book of illustrations by John Willie, foot-fetishist extraordinaire

6 Jul 2023