-
What to expect when you start collectingStarting a new collection can be daunting. Art advisor Patrick Monahan shares his top tips on what and how to buy and what to avoid.
-
'Each of my active ancestors had the good sense and taste to purchase or commission the outstanding work of their time': Meet the collecting dynastiesWhether it is adding contemporary paintings to a gallery of Old Masters or branching out into territories as diverse as Modernist chairs, Iranian tiles or Churchill memorabilia, the passion for collecting seems to run in some families.
-
Diversity in style and diversity in location: London's best art is all around usLondon's hotels, pubs and restaurants show the great depth of the capital's artistic tastes.
-
Wedgwood's craftspeople produce objects that dignify our lives daily in countless ways — here's hoping that better times lie aheadCountry Life's cultural commentator Athena analyses the concerning developments at Wedgwood.
-
'There were no fireworks. The art world remained unshaken. Then, this April, a letter arrived... to see it hanging in Tate will be very special': Art dealer John Martin on the piece he'd never part withA chance encounter with a huge, shimmering panel led art dealer John Martin to discover Nigerian sculptor Asiru Olatunde, a man who also owed his artistic career to an accidental find, as Carla Passino learns.
-
'It’s always been more about the things than the money': The family crafting silk for Strictly, Highgrove, the House of Commons and Westminster AbbeyFor half a century, Beckford Silk has been supplying remarkable textiles since 1975. Ben Lerwill discovers what makes its wares materially different
-
‘A stone pounding artist — who exclaims in his sleep, “Think of me standing upon a pinnacle of the Andes — or sketching a Fuegian Glacier!!!”’When fate handed artist Conrad Martens the chance to join HMS Beagle, he captured the Patagonian flatlands, the shores of Tierra del Fuego and the peaks of the Andes with aplomb.
-
Three kilos of gold, 6,462 diamonds and the size of a plate: Is this the world’s most valuable coin?With an estimate of £2-3 million, The coin was created for Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, goes up for auction this month and can be bought using cryptocurrency.
-
Helene Kröller-Müller: The woman who made van GoghAfter a life-threatening illness spurred Helene Kröller-Müller to make plans for a museum, she bought modern art voraciously, forming an extraordinary collection that shaped the early-20th-century perception of Vincent van Gogh
-
(Space) oddities: New David Bowie centre opens at V&A East StorehouseThe museum will house and display the largest collection of the artist's costumes, musical instruments, set models, props and more.
-
The captivating art of the Japanese woodblockHokusai’s ferocious wave and Hiroshige’s relentless downpour stole the show at a sale of ukiyo-e prints earlier in the summer
-
A feat of clay: How ceramics have taken on the fine art world'Not a Pot’, a sculptural pottery exhibition open at York Art Gallery, throws light onto the art form's evolution.
-
The Manot bed that made it from a Herefordshire attic to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy of Country LifeWhen Henry Avray Tipping spotted a 17th-century four poster languishing in a Herefordshire attic in 1911, he set off a chain of events that saw the bed leave its ancestral home and land at The Met in New York
-
Athena: In the eyes of Government, will the Arts always be last?After a year of Labour rule, life doesn't seem to be getting any better for Britain's cultural institutions.
-
A five minute guide to the Loch Ness monsterThe legend of the Loch Ness monster has endured for more than a thousand years, inspiring countless works of art along the way.
-
'You have to work hand in hand with the author — like a dancer has to work with the music': Illustrating Homer's epic poemsArtist Clive Hicks-Jenkins, faced with the colossal challenge of illustrating Homer's 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey', eschewed grandstand views of monumental battles, looking instead for what he calls the little cracks in the paving stones.
-
The piece I'd never part with: A portrait of blues singer Lead Belly by the 'tricky old rogue' who accidentally kicked one of the Royal corgisA vigorous portrait of blues singer Lead Belly rekindles art dealer Sara Stewart’s memories of the infuriating genius Howard Morgan.
-
Good things come in small packages: The art of an excellent miniatureWith so many medals to fit on the tiniest miniature she had ever worked on, limner Elizabeth Meek literally had to hold her breath when painting the portrait of Charles III, but the result is a resounding success.
-
The perks of being wallpaper: A collection of never-before-seen William Morris designs are to go on saleThe first new Morris & Co. designs in a century were developed using archive materials discovered inside a Californian library.
-
Louis Wain: The Edwardian artist who was 'perhaps the best PR cats have ever had'The artist's fascination with cats is the subject of a show at Chris Beetles Gallery which will feature 25 previously unseen works by Wain.
-
'The greatest collection of Surrealism to emerge in recent history’: The contents of iconic art collector Pauline Karpidas’s London home are heading to auctionWorks by Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso are included in the sale of the items in the collector's apartment which overlooks Hyde Park.
