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ITV’s ‘Great Art’ brings art broadcasting back to basics

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Michelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. Still from Great Art (dir. David Bickerstaff)

Episodes on Michelangelo, Canaletto and the Impressionists make the case for a simple approach to art on telly

R.B. Kitaj in his own words

Two London Painters (Frank Auerbach and Sandra Fisher), (1979), R.B. Kitaj, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The painter’s posthumously published memoir is a candid record of his obsessions

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Why Oliver Cromwell is in a spin at Westminster, Mona Hatoum’s pasta-based practice, and more

A significant Alpine landscape at the British Museum

The Schmadribach Waterfall above Lauterbrunnen (detail; c.1793), Joseph Anton Koch. Purchased by the British Museum with the assistance of The Art Fund, the American Friends of the British Museum, the Tavolozza Foundation, Charles Booth-Clibborn, the Wakefield Trust and the Ottley Group

Joseph Anton Koch’s drawing of a waterfall is an outstanding early Romantic view of Switzerland

‘This is a book about a man who painted, not about the paintings he made’

Luncheon of the Boating Party, (1880–81), Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Dallas Museum of Art

A new biography of Renoir emphasises the role the painter’s domestic life played in his work

Ed Moses (1926–2018)

Ed Moses in Los Angeles in 2014, Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Art of Elysium

Art news daily: 19 January

A comparative approach to religious art

Detail of a scroll drawing showing the ten avatars of Vishnu, c. 1771–79, Andhra Pradesh, India. © Victoria and Albert Museum

An ambitious, if limited, exhibition compares the early traditions of five faiths

How the Bayeux Tapestry had Twitter in stitches

A detail from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of King Harold

The proposed loan of the Bayeux Tapestry has made for some, erm, creative threads on social media

The patient precision of Neville Gabie

Experiments in Black and White XIII - Richmond South Africa (video still; 2014), Neville Gabie.

The South African artist has made a virtue of taking his time to make slow but rewarding films and performance pieces

Southbank Centre’s artistic director Jude Kelly to step down

Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre and founder of Women of the World Festival (WOW), at the US launch of WOW on 19 March 2015 in Washington, DC.

Art news daily: 18 January

The art of advertising

James Rosenquist in his studio with source materials, 1966

A museum retrospective charts James Rosenquist’s journey from billboard painter to Pop art pioneer

The Rake’s progress: last week in gossip

Timothy Spall as J.M.W. Turner in 'Mr Turner' (2014). Image courtesy Entertainment One

Timothy Spall plays another painter, a Rauschenberg is at risk, and Steve Lazarides in praise of bluffing

A derelict distillery becomes a canalside arts centre

Axel Vervoordt has turned an industrial ‘wasteland’ into a haven for displaying some of his favourite art

Historic loan could allow Bayeux Tapestry to travel to UK

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, in which William the Conqueror rescues the future King Harold II from captivity in France and betrothes his daughter Aelfgifu to him.

Art news daily: 17 January

Can commercial galleries thrive outside major market centres?

More contemporary galleries than ever are opening regional outposts, or moving out of London altogether

Fire breaks out at maritime museum in Jakarta

Indonesian firefighters working to extinguish a fire inside the 17th-century Dutch colonial building maritime museum in Jakarta on 16 January 2018.

Art news daily: 16 January

Mark Bradford confronts the myths of America’s past

Pickett’s Charge (Battle) (detail; 2016–17), Mark Bradford.

The artist draws on 19th-century battle scenes to create a very different historical narrative at the Hirshhorn

Anthony d’Offay accused of sexual harassment

Anthony d’Offay in front of ‘untitled: upturnedhouse 2’ (2012) by Phyllida Barlow, at Tate Modern, London on 14 January 2016. Photo: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/Getty Images

Art news daily: 15 January

What the end of net neutrality might mean for museums

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The vote to repeal net neutrality in the US poses a problem for museums trying to connect with new audiences

‘There is enduring interest in the stories of the Pre-Raphaelites’

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Proserpine (detail; 1878), Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Agnews (price on application)

The market for the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers is steady and growing, bucking the trend for Victorian painting

Why an art hound is sniffing around the MFA Boston

Life of Riley: the MFA mutt makes his first media appearance

The latest recruit to the MFA Boston is a three-month-old puppy called Riley

Acquisitions of the month: December 2017

Camillo Borghese (c. 1810), François-Pascal-Simon Gérard. Courtesy of The Frick Collection, New York

Last month’s acquisitions include a portrait of a hirsute lady, and a major purchase for the Frick

Director of Institute of Contemporary Art, Richmond, steps down

Institute of Contemporary Art, Richmond

Art news daily: 12 January

Book competition

Your chance to win ‘Edgar Degas: Drawings and Pastels’ by Christopher Lloyd (Thames & Hudson)