What’s on Oliver Dowden’s walls?
The Secretary of State for Culture has paintings by Lubaina Himid and Charles Mozley in his office – but perhaps video art is more his thing?
Some national collections may be sent to Coventry – and its old IKEA awaits them
If Coventry Council votes to buy an empty IKEA store next week, several national collections could be heading to the city
From Serena Williams to John McEnroe, the tennis stars with ace collections
Serena Williams has opened up her private art gallery to Architectural Digest – and she’s not the first tennis star to have courted the art world
Why is the Louvre auctioning off its hedges?
It’s your chance to own part of the Louvre – and spruce up your backyard with plants of impeccable provenance
Antony Gormley gets crafty
The sculptor is urging us to get creative in lockdown – and even better, he’s been channelling the late, great Tony Hart on live TV
How to gain access to the Beatles (sort of)
The original foyer doors of Abbey Road Studios are up for auction – which isn’t quite the same as owning the zebra crossing, but still
Déjà-vu – the Louvre is no stranger to heists, whether in Lupin or real life
The hit French series on Netflix sees the Paris museum’s security breached in spectacular fashion – but stealing the Mona Lisa in 1911 couldn’t have been easier
The art world is smitten with Bernie Sanders’ mittens
A meme of Bernie at the inauguration has (predictably) seen the senator popping up in everyone’s favourite paintings
Could Sex and the City’s Charlotte hack it in today’s art world?
Charlotte York-Goldenblatt stepped away from her career in the original series, but perhaps she’s ready to return to the white cube in this year’s reboot?
Location, location…location? Bridgerton plays fast and loose with Regency London
It is perhaps unsurprising that a show that takes such a creative approach to costume drama plays fast and loose with its locations
Neat work – on art and whisky
Whisky and museums are a few of your roving correspondent’s favourite things – and now the V&A Dundee is bringing them together
Banksy and the art of sneezing
Banksy has decorated a wall in Bristol with a sneeze – leading Rakewell to ponder the art of sneezing
The merry mania of Christmas cards
The first commercially produced Christmas card was published in 1843 – and you can have one for £5,000 or more (stamps not included)
Dark material – the Pitt Rivers Museum in fiction
A cameo in the BBC’s His Dark Materials adaptation leads Rakewell to reflect on other fictional appearances of the museum over the years
Build your own Colosseum!
A 9,000-piece Lego model of the Colosseum has Rakewell pondering other models of the great amphitheatre – made out of cork, clay and cheese
Monumental mutts and presidential pets
It has been a good week for outsize dogs in Turkmenistan and a huge week for good dogs in Delaware
Tall tails – the miracle of Rotterdam
Rakewell reports on a remarkable fluke outside the Dutch city
Pup idols – pet memorials through history
News that pet owners have more faith in doggy heaven than ever before leads Rakewell on a trip down memorial lane
Potato appeal – the humble spuds that have become works of art
From post Impressionist painting to 20th-century toys, the humble potato has caught the imagination of many an artist – and infant cubist
Gallery girls on the small screen – a brief history
Why is it that single women living in Manhattan nearly always find themselves working in an art gallery – on TV, at least?
Melodic moments at the National Gallery
The gallery is paying homage to the famous wartime concerts organised by Myra Hess with a series of performances – with no audiences, alas
From pelle melle to the London Marathon – sports days in St James’s Park
As runners in the London Marathon prepare to make 19 loops of St James’s Park, Rakewell delves into the sporting provenance of the park
A palace for your pooch
It’s the mutt-see show of the year (if you’re a dog) – an architectural playground just for you (again, if you’re a dog) at Japan House London
Own your own Oval Office
If you’ve ever wanted to play president, now you can – if you have a few dollars spare to buy a replica of the Oval Office at Bonhams in October
What happens when an artist wants to be anonymous?