Harald Altmaier’s photographs of floral tableaux, as colossal in effort as in scale, recall 17th-century Dutch still lifes, but the inspiration behind them is far wider, as Carla Passino finds.
Someone, somewhere, knows something about where it went.
After making his fortune in the sugar business, Sir Henry felt he deserved to give something back to the nation. And so, the Tate gallery was born.
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.
A chance encounter with a cabinet miniature sent two art historians down a rabbit hole of Elizabethan intrigue, spycraft and courtship.
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.
70 years on from the death of Frida Kahlo, Carla Passino takes a look at the work and life of the trailblazing artist.
Centuries of portraits down the ages — and vanishingly few in which the subjects smile. Carla Passino delves into the reasons why, and discovers some fascinating answers.
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.
The rules of perspective in art were poorly understood until an 18th century draughtsman made them simple. Carla Passino tells the story of Joshua Kirby.
The 2024 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is here. Country Life's Arts and Antiques Editor Carla Passino shares some trivia and tips for how to get the most out of it.
When Miss La La hoisted herself to the top of the circus tent by a rope clenched in her jaws, she dazzled not only crowds across France and Britain, but also Edgar Degas. Carla Passino tells the story of the artiste — and the artist.
In 1874, a group of painters rejected by the official Paris Salon staged its own show and changed the course of art. It was France’s convulsed lurch into the modern era that helped spark the Impressionist revolution.
Much like the iconic Battersea, The Powerhouse also finds it identity in its previous life as a power station that kept London's underground running.
A seemingly insignificant painting sold in 2022 turned out to be a lost masterpiece — and it's now on display in Britain. Carla Passino tells the tale.
A landscape full of sculpture is always a great experience; Carla Passino picks out some of the most extraordinary sculpture parks in Britain.
In a heist with a happy ending, a stolen Lavery oil made its way back to Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, where it now inspires headmaster John Browne, as Carla Passino discovers.
Flaming June by Frederick, Lord Leighton, has seen its reputation rise, fall, and rise again in the 128 years since it first went on public display. Carla Passino charts its path.
Thomas Cundy II changed the face of Mayfair with the refronting programme he launched as chief surveyor of the Grosvenor estate, but much of his work was lost in subsequent renovation, as Carla Passino discovers.
This penthouse apartment at St Pancras Chambers, formerly the Midland Grand Hotel, occupies a privileged position in one of the world's most revered Gothic buildings.
