Features

A remarkable Renaissance roundel from Mantua and a painting by Lavinia Fontana are among this month’s highlights

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

The artist rarely showed the drawings that made his revolutionary paintings possible, but the Met is finally putting them centre stage

Lorenzo Tiepolo has long languished in the shadow of his much more famous father and brother – but his was a very singular talent

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 ‘pitman painter’s scenes of men down the mines conjure up a lost world of herculean effort

The Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall has finally reopened – and it remains as forward-looking as ever

It was hard to be indifferent to the designer’s larger-than-life creations, which is exactly what he wanted

‘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?

The rebuilt Prussian palace is finally open, but the debate about how – and whether – it should house collections from Asia and Africa rumbles on

In London, the River Thames is the centre of attention, while starchitects have big plans in Sydney and Taipei

The firm of Fabergé is synonymous with the Russian Imperial family, but its fabulous baubles soon became a must-have for elites across Europe

The best Scotch baronial buildings epitomise the sophisticated planning required by a mid Victorian household. But have they had their day?

Plus: Man attacks BBC‘S Eric Gill statue with a hammer and Victoria Siddall steps down as global director of Frieze Fairs

A modern-day Salon des Refusés saves and celebrates unrealised and unwanted artworks in digital form

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

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

Burials uncovered in East Kazakhstan have revealed the nomadic Saka to be as skilled in gold-working as they were in horsemanship and war

Rachel Cohen spends some quality time with a series of installations and exhibitions by MacArthur Award-winners set throughout the city

The new-look Musée de Cluny and the Burrell Collection reopen, while there are also treats in store for fans of Bob Dylan and Serge Gainsbourg

The museum in Seoul is dedicated to the Joseon dynasty who ruled for more than 500 years, but also contains reminders of Korea’s turbulent 20th-century history

The year ahead brings significant anniversaries and, consequently, blockbuster exhibitions for Lucian Freud, Piet Mondrian and Rosa Bonheur