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.
Nick Ashley chooses Samantha by Alex Katz, an artist who made his name in New York's art scene of the 1980s.
The artist and actress Jemma Powell on a Spanish family portrait.
Steven Desmond visits the Lucian Freud exhibition at the Garden Museum, bringing a horticulturalist's eye to works by one of Britain's great 20th century artists.
Opera director Oliver Mears chooses a classic anti-war painting.
John Fowler, the iconic decorator who moved the needle of British interior design as a co-founder of Colefax & Fowler, chose exquisite pieces for his own home — and dozens of them are now up for sale.
Clare Moriarty of Citizens Advice pushes the boundaries of our feature by choosing not a painting, but a sculpture. Or rather, a series of thousands of sculptures: Anthony Gormley's 'Field for the British Isles'.
The writer, barrister and veterinarian Charles Foster on a dramatic seascape by Konstantinovich Aivazovsky.
Edouard Manet relished goading the French establishment, yet longed for the artistic recognition that came mostly after his death, laments Michael Prodger.
‘I love the beauty of the woman’s back; her elegant, naturally confident pose; and the fact that she is serenely contemplating herself.
The Duchess of Rutland chooses a portrait of the woman who was her most eminent predecessor.
Clare Matterson of the RHS chooses an abstract image.
Determination, rather than innate brilliance, made Paul Cézanne a great painter, but he was always more at home in his native Provence than in the Parisian art world says Caroline Bugler.
Composer Cecilia McDowall chooses a 15th century masterpiece by Fra Angelico.
Cartoonists have been holding political figures to account since the Georgian era. Charles Harris retraces the history of a proud tradition of British satire.
Beautifully lit paintings and prints that have been expertly positioned and displayed will transform any interior, says the Hon Patrick Howard, founder of Fine Art Lighting.
Conservationist Greg Pickup chooses a portrait of an early gay rights activist that is simultaneously shabby yet charismatic.
On the 100th anniversary of its publication, Julie Harding asks why T. S. Eliot’s great poem The Waste Land, with its devastating vision of a broken modern civilisation, still resonates so strongly today.
Christopher Woodward of The Garden Museum picks a Lucian Freud from his organisation's upcoming exhibition.
