A trip to the British seaside has united people for generations. Harbouring the promise of ice creams, arcade games, piers, sandcastles, shingle, beach huts, seagulls, sandcastles, buckets, spades and vinegar-doused…
Art and Antiques
My Favourite Painting: Simon Dickinson
Art expert Simon Dickinson chooses The Flight into Egypt by Jacopo Bassano.
In Focus: The candelight paintings which are the highlight of the career of Joseph Wright of Derby
The ‘candlelight’ paintings by Joseph Wright of Derby represent the high point of the career of one of our great painters. As one of them now leaves the country, Emma…
My favourite painting: Roxanna Panufnik
Roxanna Panufnik says: ‘My godfather Andre Dzierzynski gave me this painting when I was six months old. ‘The two lonely trees are in memory of his godfather and the Catholic…
In Focus: The evocative, sensual masterpiece created in the wake of the First World War
Edward Burra was too young to have fought in the First World War, but his powerful oil painting The Snack Bar shows just how pervasive the conflict's consequences were in…
My favourite painting: Susan Crawford
'You can feel and smell that horse and the exuberant confidence of the lad riding bareback.'
In Focus: Two silver pieces by the genius who made ‘solid objects seemingly created from liquid itself’
Huon Mallalieu pays tribute to the work of Adam van Vianen, a 16th century Dutch silversmith whose work is still yet to be surpassed – with only his brother and his…
The wool-spinner still using an 1899 loom and a method handed down for 230 years
Toby Tottle embraces the traditional process of textile production in Mainland Britain's only surviving district woollen mill.
In Focus: The gleaming cups made from gold and kingfisher feathers at the heart of a great British collection
When Richard Wallace, the illegitimate son of a Marquess unexpectedly inherited his father's art collection, he did himself and his family proud by greatly improving and expanding it – and…
My favourite painting: Sir Tim Rice
Tim Rice chooses Holbein's iconic portrait of the ill-fated Thomas More, one of Henry VIII's most important advisors before he fell out of favour.
In Focus: The ancient roman temple which lay under London, undiscovered for over 17 centuries.
The temple of Mithras has been beautifully restored by Bloomburg SPACE and now sits under their Headquarters by Bank tube station.
My favourite painting: Nick Davies
'Now I’m a grandfather myself, I know the adoration in the old man’s face'.
My Favourite Painting: Caroline Quentin
Actress Caroline Quentin chooses a haunting image of childhood by Augustus John.
In Focus: Bomberg, the trailblazer who led the way for modern British art but died an impoverished war veteran
Coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of the artist’s death, the touring exhibition of David Bomberg’s work is entering its final showing at Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in St. John’s…
A celebration of the art of the Flower Fairies
The famous 'Flower Fairies' paintings we all grew up with are 100 years old, and a new exhibition celebrates the artist who created them: Cicely Mary Barker.
My Favourite Painting: Sir Jim Paice
Sir Jim Paice, chairman of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, makes his choice – and it's one of the undisputed classic images of the English countryside.
My favourite painting: Martin Kemp
'The perspective appealed to my scientific instincts, with its geometry incised into the white gesso priming'
The costume-prop maker: ‘I think of myself as a problem solver with a bit of artistry chucked in’
Tessa Waugh meets Alan Smith, head of costume props, footwear and armoury at the RSC.
The man who made Glasgow: Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
The legacy of Scotland’s best-loved designer transcends the tragedies of his life and greatest work, says Charlotte Rostek.