Venus and Mars
Love conquers all in Botticelli’s sensuous mythological masterpiece.
Art
To Frame a Painter
A society portraitist who emigrated to Britain from Hungary found himself embroiled in a drama of divided loyalties during the First World War.
Laocoön
A warning is ignored and a city falls in El Greco’s lurid depiction.
Judith and Holofernes
A tale of female revenge, power and solidarity.
Portrait of the Portrait Artist
Holbein’s creative life during three decades of extraordinary political, religious and intellectual turbulence.
Arachne and Minerva
The myth of Arachne and Minerva is a commentary on the plight of the artist, wrapped in a dramatic tale of rivalry between god and mortal.
Sink or Swim
Snobs, bores and triumphs at the Royal Society of Arts.
The Flood
Human suffering is at the heart of Michelangelo’s masterpiece.
The Field of Cloth of Gold: A Duel in Jewels
When Henry VIII and Francis I met 12 years after the Field of Cloth of Gold – with Henry accompanied by Anne Boleyn – both sought to outdo one another with exquisite items of display.
Alexander the Great
The Classical world in Venetian colours.