With its combination of visual splendour and complex allegory, the marble pavement of Siena Cathedral is one of the most enticing of all Renaissance masterpieces
This beaded seat represents the might of a monarch – and his global reach, says Kristen Windmuller-Luna of the Cleveland Museum of Art
The Green Vault in Dresden has received a baroque chess set for its 300th birthday, plus the rest of the most important items to enter public collections
When institutions try to offer something to everyone do they risk spreading themselves too thin?
Gwen John and the contemporary artist Matthew Krishanu found comfort in a shared composition
A convivial collaboration between the American artist and a saké brewery is refreshing stuff
Under its new director Christine Macel, the historic museum full of masterpieces of French design is entering a brand new era
The national museum of immigration has a new mission – but it’s still housed in a building haunted by France’s colonial ghosts
It’s hard to say who, exactly, the Normans were – but even harder to make them out as a model migrants and proto-Europeans as a string of recent exhibitions has tried to do
The reinvention of the Museum of Childhood as Young V&A has been a great success. Should more institutions follow its example and become younger at heart?
An old-fashioned way of bringing in cakes and custards is beginning to feel rather modern again
The Egyptian film industry came to dominate the Arab world – and poster makers did much to secure its hold on the popular imagination
The vintage trucks in London’s parks provide soft serve with an outsize dollop of nostalgia – and do it in style
The first garden created by the designer for a house by Edwin Lutyens has been bought by the National Trust – preserving a vital piece of history
It has taken the National Trust 24 years to restore the Gideon Tapestries at Hardwick Hall to their former glory
Before the gal who has everything got into pink, her ideal home was a shrine to midcentury modern living
The only surviving portrait from Henry Raeburn’s trip to Italy and an 18th-century book about cricket are among the most remarkable works to enter public collections
The restaurateur and writer won over both the smart set and the middle classes – and was a hero to Elizabeth David
The ancient Greeks were quick to adopt the decadent drinking culture of their Persian enemies
A close attention to architectural history is the icing on the cake for a new pavilion cooked up by Joana Vasconcelos for Waddesdon Manor
The figures brought over in 1771 are the first documented works of Oceanic art – and now on display where they were made
At Casa Balla, Futurism was definitely a family affair for Giacomo Balla and his daughters Lucia and Elice
On the centenary of the artist’s birth, it is easier to see that beneath the impersonal surfaces his work is teeming with life
