How a taped banana questioned the meaning of art
Credit: PA
No, it's not quite what we expected either, but Carla Passino's piece at the very end of last year kept people musing throughout 2020.
The story of the cottage featured in Constable’s The Hay Wain
Credit: Alamy
Kate Green took a look at the village of Flatford, which provided the inspiration for the classic depiction of rural life.
The incomparable photography of Helmut Newton
Toby Keel looked at a glittering career that blurred the lines between fashion, photography and art.
The forgotten masterpieces of Fabergé
Credit: Tessa Hallmann / Brighton and Hove Museum
A chance glimpse of purple and gold in a crowded cabinet led to an extraordinary discovery by Geoffrey Munn.
How the belt of a goddess revealed the true colours of the Parthenon marbles
Credit: Getty
A mixture of research, original thought and a few gambles completely changed the academic community's perception of some of the world's greatest treasures, as Alexandra Fraser explained.
David Hockney's years-long mission to ‘photograph the unphotographable'
Lilias Wigan looked at an exhibition of the artist's mission to create art that captures the natural wonder that is the Grand Canyon.
How Spode went from local ceramics manufacturer to global fame and household name
Credit: Spode Museum Trust, Spode Society and Transferware Collectors Club
This year, Spode celebrated its 250th anniversary. Matthew Dennison told the story of how this English ceramics manufacturer, still based in the Potteries.
The scandalous child of Empire, the murderous photographer and the woman who fatally brought them together
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Eadweard Muybridge was not only the pioneering photographer of motion, but also a murderer. Jason Goodwin told the tale of the dashing rogue and adventurer who became his victim.
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 celebrated the architectural fantasies of one of the most widely recognised names in 18th-century Italian art: Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
My Favourite Painting: Jenni Murray
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The journalist and broadcaster Jenni Murray talked about a painting that she described as 'the first illustration of #MeToo'.
In Focus: The wartime masterpieces of Alfred Munnings
Huon Mallalieu welcomes the opportunity to see a significant body of wartime paintings alongside other works by Munnings in his
The Tamar Valley AONB: Mines, otters and the ghost of a 'black widow' who roams the moors in a carriage of bones
Kate Green focuses on the Tamar Valley AONB.
In Focus: The Spanish painter whose visceral depictions of martyrdom still have the power to shock
The unflinching representations of brutality in Jusepe de Ribera's images of martyrdom is the focus of a new exhibition, the
In Focus: How the violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti is changing the way we teach music
The violinist Nicola Benedetti speaks to Claire Jackson about virtual teaching, playing Elgar and lobbying the government.
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A well-connected rural playground with 23 acres on the edge of the South Downs National ParkOld House Farm is an impressive family home with a wealth of amenities that would inspire any rural passion.
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The UK gets its first ‘European stork village’ — and it's in West SussexAlthough the mortality rate among white storks can be up to 90%, the future looks rosy for breeding pairs in southern England.
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The century-old enamelling technique used to create Van Cleef's lucky ladybird brooch — which has something in common with Country LifeThe technique used in the jeweller's Geneva workshop has been put to good use in its latest creation.
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Jaecoo 7 SHS: Can you really get a luxury SUV for £35,000?The Chinese automaker Jaecoo lands on UK shores with the 7. We take it for a spin around Scotland and the north of England to see if the hype is real.
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Love, sex and death: Our near-universal obsession with the roseNo flower is more entwined with myth, religion, politics and the human form than the humble rose — and now there's a new coffee table book celebrating them in all of their glory.
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Seeing you seeing me: How did British artists portray eachother in the 20th and 21st centuries?The 'Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists' exhibitions comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photography, sculpture and installation spanning 125 years.
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'This is the funnest exhibition London has seen in recent memory': Grayson Perry’s new show at the Wallace Collection explores the delusions of a fictitious woman'Delusions of Grandeur' at the Wallace Collection coincides with a selling exhibition of photography.
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How Cartier became ‘the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers’In the early 20th century, Cartier creations adorned everyone from monarchs and superstar actresses, to American ‘Dollar Princesses’. A blockbuster exhibition at the V&A, featuring more than 350 objects, plans to chart the maison's legacy.
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Everything you need to know about the stealth red carpet tease and Breitling’s new Top Time B31 watch — as seen on Austin Butler’s wristIn the space of a month, Breitling has signed Austin Butler as a brand ambassador, launched a new collection and snapped up a dormant brand.
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One for the pot: Nine of the prettiest vases to gift this Mother's Day, instead of flowersWe typically send our mothers flowers on Mothering Sunday, but what about a vase to hold them in?
