Features
The Musée de Cluny brings the Middle Ages bang up to date
The museum has sensitively reimagined all its displays to breathe new life into its medieval masterpieces
Something to savour – at the new Food Museum in Suffolk
An East Anglian museum is turning its attention from the field to the table with provocative results
Will the new Burrell Collection give Glasgow global reach?
After six years of work, the city’s most singular museum is reopening. But while it is once again filled with wonders, there are also questions to be answered
The mountain stronghold that has kept Georgia’s medieval art safe for centuries
The Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography is a testament to the local people’s long-standing determination to preserve their cultural heritage
The bawdy world of kabuki theatre
This elegant Japanese tradition with earthy origins has long provided Japanese printmakers with rewardingly risqué material
The art of making stone look good enough to eat
Rocks that resemble food may not be appetising exactly, but they can certainly be a feast for the eyes
Acquisitions of the Month: February 2022
A remarkable Renaissance roundel from Mantua and a painting by Lavinia Fontana are among this month’s highlights
Tombstone views – picturing Gray’s ‘Elegy’
Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ was the best-loved poem of the 18th century – and has proved a lure to illustrators ever since
Charles Ray and the art of keeping body and soul together
The sculptor may work with many different materials but the main ingredient in his art, he says, is time
Why was Jacques-Louis David so determined to keep his drawings to himself?
The artist rarely showed the drawings that made his revolutionary paintings possible, but the Met is finally putting them centre stage
Infant prodigy – is this the most unusual baby picture in art history?
Lorenzo Tiepolo has long languished in the shadow of his much more famous father and brother – but his was a very singular talent
Can the Louvre really counter Islamophobia in France?
A major exhibition across 18 venues is highlighting the rich variety of Islamic art. But can it stem the growing prejudices in French society?
The hellish mining scenes of George Bissill
The ‘pitman painter’s scenes of men down the mines conjure up a lost world of herculean effort
‘It has always been a museum of the future’ – at the original Smithsonian
The Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall has finally reopened – and it remains as forward-looking as ever
Fashion is in dire need of more of Thierry Mugler’s thrilling sense of drama
It was hard to be indifferent to the designer’s larger-than-life creations, which is exactly what he wanted
Dress code – decrypting Gainsborough’s dazzling boy portraits
‘The Blue Boy’ is heavily influenced by Van Dyck’s grand manner. But what did the artist mean by dressing up his young subject in this way?
Has the Humboldt Forum got it horribly wrong?
The rebuilt Prussian palace is finally open, but the debate about how – and whether – it should house collections from Asia and Africa rumbles on
From the Thames Tideway Tunnel to Taipei – the year ahead in architecture
In London, the River Thames is the centre of attention, while starchitects have big plans in Sydney and Taipei
How Fabergé cornered the market in gifts for the Edwardian elite
The firm of Fabergé is synonymous with the Russian Imperial family, but its fabulous baubles soon became a must-have for elites across Europe
Are Scotland’s baronial castles worth saving?
The best Scotch baronial buildings epitomise the sophisticated planning required by a mid Victorian household. But have they had their day?
The week in art news – Ricardo Bofill (1939–2022)
Plus: Man attacks BBC‘S Eric Gill statue with a hammer and Victoria Siddall steps down as global director of Frieze Fairs
Mission impossible – the museum for artworks that don’t exist
A modern-day Salon des Refusés saves and celebrates unrealised and unwanted artworks in digital form
Do minimalist architects make the best murderers? – ‘The Girl Before’, reviewed
A dislike of frills can signal much more sinister tendencies – or that’s what a BBC adaptation of J.P. Delaney’s thriller ‘The Girl Before’ would have us believe
Arty books and films to look out for in 2022
From a caper about the pensioner who swiped a Goya to the memoir of a curator who came in from the cold – the must-see movies and a first reading list for art lovers
What happens when an artist wants to be anonymous?