REVIEW BY CAMPBELL PRICE This is perhaps the most closely related set of papers to be included in a single Festschrift that I’ve ever encountered. Given Nicholas Reeves’ well-known work in the Valley of the Kings, and on Tutankhamun in…
As the name suggests, this was originally a guild-like society, founded in 1921 by professional stained-glass artists to promote good practice and maintain high standards of design and workmanship. As regular church visitors will know, not every example of stained…
A rare watercolour by Howard Carter is now on temporary display at the Egypt Centre, Swansea University. The scene from the Chapel of Thutmose I at Deir el-Bahri was painted when Carter was 19, and is his largest surviving work.…
Rare early 16th-century wall paintings have been uncovered – for the first time in almost 300 years – in the loft space of the First Court building at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Restoration work to the 15th-century building revealed three crowned…
Hiding in plain sight Look carefully at Renaissance paintings and you will see all sorts of fascinating cultural details, from the most obvious – the clothing that was fashionable at the time the painting was made, the jewellery, the hairstyles,…
When was this curious hairstyle used and what was its significance?
Examining artefacts from Myanmar reveals how a tale of power, wealth, people, and the rise and fall of empires played out over centuries, as Alexandra Green told Matthew Symonds.
Deep underground, the ancient inhabitants of what is now China built remarkable houses and palaces. But these dwellings were not homes for the living. Instead, the dead would be laid there, not to rest, but to live out their afterlife in comfort. The objects and attendants that accompanied them shed light on both the deceased and the birth of a unified China, as Jessica Rawson told Matthew Symonds.
Barbara Boczar investigates the sources of the wonderful colours used by ancient Egyptian artisans.
A study just published by an interdisciplinary team from Belgium and France has revealed small changes and ‘touch-ups’ to paintings in Theban tombs, showing that images were often adapted and reworked during their execution, rather than created by means of…
When the army of Europe’s most powerful monarch besieged the Tuscan city in 1554, it took terror and hunger to achieve what cannon and arquebus could not, as William E Welsh explains.
Review by Lucy Shipley This book is very clearly a passion project, the result of a lifetime’s love for and engagement with the Etruscan past. It provides a rare opportunity to hear the views of a specialist from another discipline,…
Review by Helen Whitehouse Originally published in French (Mosaïques d’Alexandrie: pavements d’Égypte grecque et romaine, 2019), this handsome volume now appears in an excellent English translation by Colin Clement. Excavations in Alexandria, on land and at sea, over the last…
The oil paintings are the work of Scottish painter Richard Waitt (d.1732), and were commissioned in 1713 by Alexander, the Laird of Grant.
The exhibition 'The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, art and the sea' continues at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, London SE10 9NF, until 14 January 2024.
With no contemporary written record to guide us, we cannot know the precise meaning behind the many depictions of human hands featured in prehistoric cave art around the world – the oldest known examples of which are believed to have…
Conservation work is being carried out on a painting of Hercules and Omphale, recently attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi, that was damaged during the massive explosion in 2020 in Beirut.
The drawings and paintings of Romantic-era artist Henry Fuseli showcase his fascination with fantasy, expression, and elaborate hairstyles. Lucia Marchini takes a look at the imaginative work of the artist, and how he challenged conventions in public and private.
The presence of ancient Greece and Rome can be felt in many places in the early history of the United States of America. Lucia Marchini speaks to Sean Burrus and Emilie Johnson to find out how Americans like Thomas Jefferson were putting antiquity to use as a new nation was forged.
An exhibition on Feminine Power currently at the British Museum journeys through the beautiful, but dangerous, realm ruled over by great goddesses. There, Lindsay Fulcher discovers, men are often afraid to tread.
How did the elements of what we now call Gothic come together in medieval Europe? Emma J Wells takes us back to this great age of cathedral-building, when masons set out to replicate heaven here on earth.
Neil went on to propose using what R G Collingwood called ‘the historical imagination’ by blending data and interpretation to ‘tell the story’. He was convinced that this ‘must be done if archaeology is to be interesting and worthwhile’.
What is it? This 6th-century ivory comb, which may have been used by its owner to style his hair and beard, was found in a grave in Germany, in an early medieval toiletry bag that also contained a small pair…
As we head into spring, there are many fantastic opportunities to get out and about and enjoy the UK’s history, archaeology, and cultural heritage, whether you’re looking for historical re-enactments, excavation opportunities, or new exhibitions. If you prefer, there are also plenty of resources available online, ranging from digital museum collections and 3D tours of heritage sites to activities and archaeological TV shows for the whole family. Amy Brunskill has put together a selection of some of the options available.
Having brought together ancient Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian artefacts to create a museum of comparative sculpture, Baron Giovanni Barracco gave his collection of antiquities to the city of Rome in 1902. Now housed in a 16th-century palace in the Italian capital, the little-known Museo Barracco showcases ancient artistry and the activities of collectors, both at the turn of the century and in ancient Rome. Dalu Jones is our guide.
Persepolis paintings perfectly glorious’ was the verdict Prentice Duell cabled from Egypt to James Henry Breasted, founder of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (OI). He had just seen the work American artist Joseph Lindon Smith (1863-1950) created…
A rare history painting by the French artist Marie-Guillemine Benoist (1768-1826) has recently joined the collections of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
A fourth portrait – St Ambrose of Milan – has been missing since the early 20th century.
Take Roman family portraits, for example. Either they were on public display to advertise the social standing of the family, or they were objects of veneration in the cult of ancestor-worship; or both.
The statues of five elephants surrounding this part of the cemetery have led to the belief that these and other circus animals are buried here along with the human victims of the Hammond circus train disaster of 22 June 1918.
These days, John Craxton is perhaps best known for the vibrant, sun-drenched illustrations he produced as book jackets for his close friend, the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. As a young painter in the 1940s, however, he was a leading figure in the post-war British art scene, alongside Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Lucian Freud.
What did kallos mean to the Greeks? As the Museum of Cycladic Art explores this concept, Lucia Marchini talks to Nikolaos Stampolidis to uncover divine, mortal, and internal beauty in the Greek world.
Lisbon's Núcleo Arqueológico da Rua dos Correeiros museum, London's Courtauld Gallery, and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts have all reopened.
Few people have recently had as much face time with the ghosts of the Roman emperors as Mary Beard, a well-known professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge. Her latest book – Twelve Caesars: images of power from the…
One of the most accomplished painters of the 17th century, Peter Paul Rubens had a deep interest in the ancient world, expressed through the power of the paintbrush, but also the written word. Lucia Marchini speaks to Anne Woollett to find out more about the artist’s engagement with Greece and Rome – from discussing cameos to staging spectacular triumphal processions.
Due to changing coronavirus measures, the dates listed below may have changed since we went to print, and museums and galleries may close. Check the websites and social-media accounts of the museums for the most up-to-date information and bookings.