Kirsten Tambling is curator of The Clockworks. Her book, Shakespearean Objects in the Royal Collection, 1714–1939, will be published by Oxford University Press.
The artist left behind thousands of drawings when he died at the age of 37, and some of the loveliest examples can be seen at the British Museum
The invention of the telegraph in a fractured post-Revolutionary France collapsed time and space, changing visual culture for ever
Working in the new medium of pastels, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour portrayed the elites of his day in a style to suit the hedonism of the age
In 18th-century France, an emerging consumer society created a new kind of buyer and encouraged artists to look to the short-term
The museum is founded on the collection of John Julius Angerstein and, 200 years later, the banker’s taste is still making itself felt
The artist has always combined high and low culture, and an exhibition at Waddington Custot captures his witty approach to assemblage
Jan Christian Sepp’s guide to the visual and geological properties of marble will whet the appetite of the modern readers too
Jean-Étienne Liotard depicted the same scene first in pastel, then 23 years later in oils – and both versions can be savoured for a time at the National Gallery in London
An understanding of theatrical culture in the 18th century is vital for understanding the most important painters of the period
Oliver Messel’s rococo sets for ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at the Royal Opera House represented a new dawn for dance
