Huon Mallalieu

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.

Farewell to the arms: The humbling English defeat to the French that you've never heard of

A 15th-century cannon, an 18th-century flintlock belt-pistol and two swords excavated near Castillon, the site of the battle that ended Britain's rule in south-western France, featured prominently in an Olympia Auctions sale last month.

Miniature heroes: The tiny portraits that delight, amuse, and have changed the course of English history

Over the centuries, miniatures sealed marriages, captured stolen glances and — in one unforgettable instance — tipped the balance power in Tudor England. Huon Mallalieu delves into the history of these often small and always perfectly formed portraits.

The 102-year-old, the armed robbers and the 'blazing' Picasso which helped Sotheby's sell $1 billion of art in a month

November's major auctions witnessed some truly extraordinary sales — not least thanks to the sale of the collection of Emily Fisher Landau. Huon Mallalieu takes a look.

Coronation memorabilia: Future heirlooms, or future charity shop tat?

Love it or loathe it, royal memorabilia is big business. Huon Mallalieu takes a look at the commemorative souvenirs of the past and considers if they ever really make an investment for the future.

In Focus: The billion-dollar art collection of Microsoft's co-founder, and what happened when it went under the hammer

Huon Mallalieu takes a look at the extraordinary paintings collected by Paul Allen over a lifetime of considered art appreciation.

In Focus: Britain's forgotten impressionist, whose works of genius lay undiscovered in an attic for over a century

How does art endure? The painter John Louis Petit had no need to sell, did not exhibit his work professionally and most of it was forgotten until the death of his grandniece.

In Focus: The £20 million Michelangelo sketch that's one of just 10 in private hands

In Focus: The Hamilton Aphrodite, 'the finest ancient sculpture ever to have resided in Scotland', and how it smashed its £3 million auction estimate

Huon Mallalieu reports back on the sale of The Hamilton Aphrodite, and a number of other striking pieces which obliterated their estimates.

The £20 sketch bought at a yard sale that turned out to be an original Dürer, and worth over £10 million

First there was the chance purchase of the sketch. Then there was the equally fortunate decision to buy a frame, followed by a series of coincidences which led to the Holy Grail for art collectors: a £20 picture that's turned out to be an original Albrecht Dürer, worth millions.

In Focus: The rediscovered Old Masters set to light up London Art Week 2021

Huon Mallalieu picks some of the most exciting art to be featured at London Art Week 2021, which begins on July 2.

The tiny wooden chest handed down through the generations that turned out to be worth over £1 million

Huon Mallalieu reports on an extraordinary — and record-breaking — auction of a chest roughly the size of a small loaf of bread which generated a huge sale for Lyon & Turnbull.

In Focus: John Croome, the 'mouse that roared' of the art world

Huon Mallalieu celebrates the bicentenary of John Croome, the enigmatic and oft-overlooked founder of the Norwich School of painting.

In Focus: The tiny Rembrandt which soared from £650 to almost £15 million in the space of our expert's career

Huon Mallalieu reports back from a novel Sotheby's online sale where he runs in to an old friend up for sale last seen near the start of his career in the business.

In Focus: Views of Britain's coast ideal for staycation art lovers

An online exhibition of paintings from the coast of Britain is ideal staycation art viewing, says Huon Mallalieu.

In Focus: Piranesi, the architect, artist and engraver whose fantasy buildings won him 300 years of fame

In the 300th anniversary year of Piranesi’s birth, Huon Mallalieu considers the architectural fantasies of one of the most widely recognised names in 18th-century Italian art: Giovanni Battista Piranesi.

In focus: How galleries and art dealers have shifted to showing and selling online

Galleries and dealers are using the difficulty of the lockdown to showcase their wares in virtual forms, from wartime oils to a cleaning lady and a Turk.

In Focus: The Heath Robinson Museum at Pinner, home to decades of gently satirised modern life

Huon Mallalieu tells the story of the small museum in Middlesex, where you'll find the last records of the county before it became overrun by suburbia.

In Focus: The story of life of St Clare, and other restituted paintings that found their way back home

In Focus: How a painting discovered in a rural French kitchen came to sell for £20 million

The discovery — and subsequent auction — of a painting by Cimabue hit the headlines recently, but who is this little-known Italian painter? And why was this painting deemed quite so important? Country Life's art expert Huon Mallalieu explains.