(L-R) The Princess of Wales on the cover of Tatler, Queen Victoria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, and a detail of Vices Overlook’d in the New Proclamation by James Gillray.
Hannah Uzor/Tatler, Royal Collection Trust / National Portrait Gallery. Montage created with Canva
British monarchs have grappled with issues of representation, accuracy and flattery in portraits since the Middle Ages.
A Mona Lisa painting from the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, held in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.
Collection of the Museo del Prado
The Mona Lisa has traditionally been associated with Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. But there’s plenty of evidence pointing to a different identity.
(L-R) The Rockox Triptych by Rubens (1613–1615), Christ as the Man of Sorrows by Maerten Jacobsz van Heemskerck and The Last Judgement by Michelangelo (1541).
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp/Sistine Chapel
The Bible is full of strong men and pumped prophets.
Met Museum/National Portrait Gallery
What changing artistic depictions of women’s alopecia tells us about hair loss today.
Ai Weiwei with his Forever Sculpture in 2015.
PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
Philosophers of art have, at times, entertained quite seriously the claim that art can come to an end.
Diana Cecil, Countess of Elgin, by Cornelius Johnson.
English Heritage
Early restoration decisions were influenced by changing fashions and politics, or practical necessities such as difficulty with cleaning.
Suzana Duljic/Pexels
The Modern, a debut novel centred on an Australian researcher at New York’s MoMA, muses on modern art and relationships – riffing off MoMA artists like Grace Hartigan and Nan Goldin.
Detail from a 15th century manuscript recounting the siege of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258.
Wikimedia
The new game takes liberties with what medieval Baghdad looked like but reveals more about Islamic art and architecture as a result.
1920s Dada artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was known as ‘the Living Dada.’
(Library of Congress)
Digital archives can have an important part in creating more inclusive art histories, but paying attention to ethical research practices when sharing and circulating resources is critical.
Old Testament Trinity by Rublev (1420s).
Reaktion Books
Rublev, active around 1400 in and near Moscow, was a monk and painter of icons, frescoes and (possibly) manuscripts in the tradition of the Orthodox Church
Art or science? Trick question.
Leonardo da Vinci via Wikimedia Commons; libre de droit/iStock via Getty Images
Art and science may seem like opposites, but throughout history the disciplines have fed off each other − and still do today.
The Kongouro from New Holland, 1772, George Stubbs
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
How did George Stubbs, one of England’s foremost painters of horses and dogs, get Australian animals so wrong?
Westminster’s Cosmati pavement is the only medieval floor mosaic you can walk on in the UK.
Dean and Chapter of Westminster
Up close, Westminster Abbey’s fabled floor boasts intricate patterning and psychedelic alternations of colours.
Leonora Carrington at home in Mexico (2000).
Daniel Aguilar/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo
Surreal Spaces paints a portrait of fragility and strength, passion and determination.
Pierre Bonnard, French, 1867-1947, Coffee, 1915. Oil on canvas, 73.0 x 106.5 cm. Tate, London. Presented by Sir Michael Sadler through the NACF 1941. Photo © Tate.
An unusual and magnificent exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria allows us to see Bonnard like never before.
Henry Darger worked as a hospital custodian. After his death in 1973, hundreds of his illustrations were discovered.
Brooklyn Taxidermy/flickr
The genre – also known as ‘folk art’ or ‘outsider art’ – serves as a reminder that art is a universal human pursuit.
The AI-generated images of Pope Francis that fooled much of the internet.
Created by Midjourney
Popes wear white to represent Christlike purity and red to symbolise compassion.
Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.
Shutterstock
An art historian explains how Vincent van Gogh went from an unknown painter to one of the world’s most expensive artists.
Starlings flock to the West Pier.
SamuelJB/Shutterstock
Historic paintings can be just as valuable as educational tools as videos created using the latest technologies.
Villa Aurora in Rome, which houses works by Caravaggio and Guercino, is up for sale.
Vincenzo Pinto/AFP via Getty Images
What will happen to this villa and its unique collection of 16th- and 17th-century ceiling paintings?