Books
Pots are for plebs: why vases were cheap in Ancient Greece
A mistaken attempt to raise the status of vase painting
A brilliant impersonator of himself: Terry Eagleton on Oscar Wilde
Eagleton looks at a critic who was 'piously dedicated to his own pleasure'
The most beautiful palette in France: on Eugène Delacroix
The extraordinary influence of Delacroix is tackled in a new exhibition and accompanying catalogue
Seven tips from the top: essential job advice from US museum directors
In a new book out this month, industry leaders open up about role models, wrong turns and hard-won lessons
Face time: Kelly Grovier on the reinvention of portraiture since 1989
Technological and cultural changes since the fall of the Berlin Wall have forced artists to paint the face anew
Monuments to absence: Gregory Gilbert on a new book about Charles Ray
The artist's excessive emphasis on production eclipses everything else
An unconventional pastoralist: on Samuel Palmer
The charm of Samuel Palmer’s work is its refusal to submit to analysis
A uniquely British phenomenon: how museums sprang up in the UK
From the 1860s, a network of museums were founded nationwide
Short, sharp—and funny: Bernhard Schulz on Adolph Menzel
To mark the 200th anniversary of his birth, a book celebrates Adolph Menzel as the “painter of modern life”
My father and music: how Mark Rothko’s love of Mozart made his paintings sing
In an extract from his new book, Christopher Rothko explains how the master of abstraction absorbed the stylistic principles and emotional contradictions of the 18th-century genius
Charles I’s other portrait painter
The Anglo-Dutch artist Cornelius Johnson emerges from the shadow of Van Dyck
My favourite poems, by the very English Rex Whistler
His biographers have published his commonplace book in facsimile
Brian Sewell's tribute to the Rolls Royce
The art critic, who died earlier this year, loved art, dogs and great cars
A ‘heroic’ era, but for whom? on Brutalist architecture
The voices of owners, occupants and users of British Modernist architecture are unheard in this admiring—and admirable—history
A chicken tikka masala of snakes and crocodiles
The Imperial Roman construction of ancient Egypt
A substantial but overlooked artist
Georg Pencz comes into his own at last. By David Ekserdjian
How and why works change
A book for non-specialists on painting conservation. By Will Shank
Put not your trust in princes
The story of Daniel Nijs, who impoverished himself selling Italian art to King Charles I
Monks’ marriage of poverty and riches
How Italian Renaissance mendicant orders struggled to reconcile their ideals and their wealth. By Christopher Colven
Bluestockings and botany
Horticultural art of the 18th century owes much to the aristocratic female garden-makers who were at the centre of Georgian society
The least studied aspect of a closet liberal: Jonathan Brown on Goya
Set in the context of their times, Goya’s portraits finally get the attention they deserve, says the art historian