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Lady Jane Grey: How the Nine Day Queen lost her head, but found her face
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Michaelangelo: The good, the bad and the disturbingly ugly of one of art's greatest geniuses
With a passion for arguing and a sharp tongue to match his extraordinary genius, Michelangelo was both the enfant prodige and the enfant ‘terribile’ of the Renaissance, as Michael Hall reveals.
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Historic England acquires 8,000-strong collection of early landscape photographs
Janette Rosing's collection of 19th- and early-20th-century photographs is ‘of national significance’ says Historic England.
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'Designer, maker, influencer': How Glyndebourne plans to honour Oliver Messel's legacy this summer
A century on from his professional debut, Glyndebourne is to stage an exhibition celebrating the visionary 20th century stage designer.
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A new National Gallery exhibition shines a light on Siena’s brief, but dazzling golden age
In the space of 100 years, Siena's artists redefined painting as an art form and laid the foundations for Renaissance.
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Hastings Contemporary extols life above and below the waves with two new exhibitions
The threat to fishing communities and the mysteries of life below the waves are explained in two new exhibitions at Hastings Contemporary, East Sussex.
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Playing the fool: The rich history of tarot and how it satisfies our desire for transcendence
Once an elaborate art form that entertained 15th-century Italian nobility, tarot cards have evolved into a tool of divination. A new exhibition shines a light on their history.
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When London was beginning to establish itself as modern cultural powerhouse: The 1980s according to David Bailey
In his new book ‘Eighties Bailey’, ‘era-defining’ photographer David Bailey explores a time when London and the UK were at the centre of the fashion, art and publishing worlds.
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‘Seeing all these pictures at the same time is a rare privilege’: ‘Goya to Impressionism’ opens at The Courtauld
The Courtauld’s new exhibition marks the first time that a significant portion of one of Switzerland’s most important art collections has been shown in one go, outside of the country.
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In full bloom: 'Flowers: Flora in art and culture' opens at the Saatchi Gallery
From 100,000 dried flowers to a contemporary interpretation of Van Gogh’s 'Sunflowers', the Saatchi Gallery's new 'Flowers' exhibition is the perfect spring antidote to long winter days.
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This rare Picasso lithograph could be yours for £60,000
Picasso's 'David and Bathsheba' — printed on rare Chinese silk paper and intertwined with the artist's infamous and complicated love life — has come up for sale.
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Five of the National Trust's most outstanding paintings, as chosen by the curators who care for the charity’s world-class collection
As The National Trust celebrates its 130th anniversary, we asked five of their curators to choose a key artwork from the charity's huge collection.
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Curious questions: Where did the Snakes and Ladders board game come from?
Games of Snakes and Ladder punctuated most of our childhoods, but how many of us know about its Ancient Indian origins and the fact that it was designed to teach us about liberation from the transmutations of karma?
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The £40 car boot painting that might just be a long-lost Van Gogh worth more than £10 million
It's the things dreams are made of: you pick up an innocuous painting at a car boot sale only to discover that it might be a previously unknown piece by one of the most influential figures in art worth millions. This time round though the dream is a reality because experts believe they've just verified a long-lost Van Gogh masterpiece. So, how does the evidence stack up, asks Rosie Paterson?
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Country Life's top 10 arts stories of 2024
From the artist killed on his first day in the war to a masterpiece once sold for £30, these were our most popular arts stories of 2024.
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How 'the best picture in the world' was saved from destruction by a British army officer refused to follow his orders
Claudia Pritchard on the extraordinary tale of how Piero della Francesca’s 1460s fresco 'The Resurrection' was saved.
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Eyes wide shut: The art of sleeping
Sleep takes many shapes in art, whether sensual or drunken, deathly or full of nightmares, but it is rarely peaceful. Even slumbering babies can convey anxiety, discovers Claudia Pritchard.
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The Legacy: Hans Sloane and the creation of the British Museum
A curious child who grew into a man of voracious intellectual curiosity, his life of collecting gave birth to one of the nation's great institutions.
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Lost and then found: A missing painting by Lord Leighton returns to London
Someone, somewhere, knows something about where it went.
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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.
