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The curious case of Cecil Beaton and Madame X
When he noticed an uncanny resemblance between John Singer Sargent’s painting of Virginie Gautreau and a Cecil Beaton portrait of Leslie Caron, Patrick Monahan called on the Hollywood Golden Age actress to investigate.
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Eccentric, awe-inspiring and a home-from-home for literary giants: Why the London Library is an institution like no other
The London Library is celebrating 180 years in St James’s Square.
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A five minute guide to Wayne Thiebaud — the artist who 'reinvented still life as a genre and found fame in the process'
The Courtauld Institute is staging the first-ever exhibition of Wayne Thiebaud's work.
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What is everyone talking about this week: Does Britain need its own Met Gala?
Will Hosie questions what form the British Museum's upcoming fundraising gala should take.
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Five émigré artists who greatly enriched Britain's intellectual and creative scenes
Frieze Masters kicks off this week and several contributing galleries are using it to shine a spotlight on the artistic contribution of émigrés past and present.
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Nine of Britain's most beautiful and awe-inspiring painted ceilings from the Country Life archive
Our round-up of some of the Britain's prettiest painted ceilings is a good reminder to always look up.
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‘One remembers not to give the Queen a thump of joyful friendliness’: Remembering Norman Parkinson — revolutionary fashion photographer and Cecil Beaton’s only homegrown rival
Cecil Beaton might be the toast of London right now, with a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, but contemporary Norman Parkinson was always hot on his heels.
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Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection, charts a century of regal taste
Edward VII swept away the cobwebs of mid-Victorian style, Queen Mary had passion for all things small and the Queen Mother bought rather avant-garde art.
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What to expect when you start collecting
Starting a new collection can be daunting. Art advisor Patrick Monahan shares his top tips on what and how to buy and what to avoid.
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'Each of my active ancestors had the good sense and taste to purchase or commission the outstanding work of their time': Meet the collecting dynasties
Whether 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.
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Diversity in style and diversity in location: London's best art is all around us
London's hotels, pubs and restaurants show the great depth of the capital's artistic tastes.
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Wedgwood's craftspeople produce objects that dignify our lives daily in countless ways — here's hoping that better times lie ahead
Country Life's cultural commentator Athena analyses the concerning developments at Wedgwood.
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'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 with
A 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.
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'It’s always been more about the things than the money': The family crafting silk for Strictly, Highgrove, the House of Commons and Westminster Abbey
For half a century, Beckford Silk has been supplying remarkable textiles since 1975. Ben Lerwill discovers what makes its wares materially different
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‘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.
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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.
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Arts & Antiques: Five ways in which we are living in a material world
Carla Passino looks at a new art, fashion and culture festival at Kew Gardens, and the life and work of the artist Rose Hilton.
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(Space) oddities: New David Bowie centre opens at V&A East Storehouse
The museum will house and display the largest collection of the artist's costumes, musical instruments, set models, props and more.
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The captivating art of the Japanese woodblock
Hokusai’s ferocious wave and Hiroshige’s relentless downpour stole the show at a sale of ukiyo-e prints earlier in the summer
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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.
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The Manot bed that made it from a Herefordshire attic to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, courtesy of Country Life
When 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
