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The genius inventors who created the world's most important clocks
Early clocks had variable hours, but even in the golden age of British horology, when Thomas Tompion made his masterpieces, a man relying on public timepieces could end his walk earlier than he had started. Huon Mallalieu traces the evolution of British clock-making.
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'As a child I wanted to snuggle up with the dogs and be part of it': Alexia Robinson chooses her favourite painting
Alexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food, chooses an Edwin Landseer classic.
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Legacy of loos seeks new custodian
Ever wanted to own more than 1,200 antique loos, washbasins, baths, taps and bathroomalia? Well, now is your chance, as the Thomas Crapper Museum is up for sale.
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The great Blue Plaque mystery in London
Dozens of blue plaques have gone missing down the years, and English Heritage is determined to try and find them.
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The Pre-Raphaelite painter who swapped 'willowy, nubile women' for stained glass — and created some of the best examples in Britain
The painter Edward Burne-Jones turned from paint to glass for much of his career. James Hughes, director of the Victorian Society, chooses a glass masterpiece by Burne-Jones as his favourite 'painting'.
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George Stubbs (1724–1806): Hero of the turf
George Stubbs, born 300 years ago, found Nature superior to art and approached his pictures with the eye of an anatomy scholar, yet no contemporary could rival him in capturing the elegance and character of racehorses, dogs and even zebras, as Jack Watkins discovers.
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The Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece that never was, thanks to an assassination, a war, an abduction and an invasion
The great master Leonardo da Vinci was on course to create an equine statue that could have rivalled his greatest pieces — until fate intervened. Carla Passino tells the tale of the da Vinci sculpture that never was.
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'But for a few twists of fate, she might well have been Queen of England': Who was the mystery woman in the Hilliard miniature?
A chance encounter with a cabinet miniature sent two art historians down a rabbit hole of Elizabethan intrigue, spycraft and courtship.
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The tragic tale of Rex Whistler, the brilliant young artist whose time at the Front Line lasted less than 24 hours
Rex Whistler, determined that the Second World War shouldn’t be left to young boys, worked hard to become an officer and lead troops into battle, but the naivety of early courage cost him his life on his very first day of battle, as Allan Mallinson reveals.
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Rare guitars played by Prince and Noel Gallagher lead Sotheby's Popular Culture Auction
From August 29, you can bid on rare guitars, a Steinway piano from Abbey Road, art by John Lennon and a costume from Gladiator II, among other items.
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'I can’t look away. I’m captivated': The painter who takes years over each portrait, with the only guarantee being that it won't look like the subject
For Country Life's My Favourite Painting slot, the writer Emily Howes chooses a work by a daring and challenging artist: Frank Auerbach.
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The years when Art was part of the Olympics — and the double-gold winning painter who became its greatest champion
For decades in the early 20th century, the Olympic Games included events in art, literature and music. Only one person won more than a single gold medal in those years: Jean Jacoby, a painter from Luxembourg who remains his country's most decorated Olympian.
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The 'holy grail' of JRR Tolkien's letters are up for sale, showing his anger at his editors and the 'priggery' of Sherlock Holmes
Bayliss Books are selling the biggest collection of Tolkien first editions and personal letters to come up for sale in twenty years. Annunciata Elwes takes a look.
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'I painted my own reality': The five key moments that defined Frida Kahlo's life and work
70 years on from the death of Frida Kahlo, Carla Passino takes a look at the work and life of the trailblazing artist.
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Paris 1924, when sport came headfirst into an intoxicating mix of art, fashion and desire
When the Olympics opened in Paris in 1924, the French capital was already gripped by a ferocious blend of art, literature, cinema, fashion and a wild desire to dance. Sport merged into this culture to become the pinnacle of an extraordinary time, as Mary Miers reveals.
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The Uffington White Horse restoration has got it looking at its best, 3,000 years after it was first created
The Uffington White Horse, the oldest chalk figure in Britain, has just undergone a superb restoration.
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Farewell to the arms: The humbling English defeat to the French that you've never heard of
A 15th-century cannon, an 18th-century flintlock belt-pistol and two swords excavated near Castillon, the site of the battle that ended Britain's rule in south-western France, featured prominently in an Olympia Auctions sale last month.
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Full steam ahead: The art of rail
The railway may have started its artistic life as a fire-breathing monster that devoured the countryside, but it soon became an emblem of advancing modernity, a cherished memento of the past and even, in the case of one station, the centre of the universe. Carlo Passino explains.
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The Titian masterpiece found in a plastic bag at a London bus stop has sold for £17.6 million
The painting that secured Titian’s reputation as 'the greatest painter of the Venetian Renaissance' is going up for sale, 30 years after it was recovered in a carrier bag in the most unlikely of spots.
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'If you get 12 great photographs a year, you're doing well': Charlie Waite on the secrets of landscape photography
The world-renowned landscape photographer Charlie Waite joins the Country Life Podcast.
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My Favourite Painting: Rob Houchen
The actor Rob Houchen chooses a bold and challenging Egon Schiele work.
