The matchstick man

From George Stubbs’s golden vision of the labourer’s place in society to Ford Madox Brown’s heroically monumental celebration of manual labour, artists gave individual interpretations of work, as Michael Hall reveals

D Mark Thompson appeared in Yorkshire Life as a young artist. In our anniversary year, we catch up with him as his new book is released

“Johannes Vermeer is the most laconic of the Dutch old masters,” Andrew Graham-Dixon once remarked, adding that this “may explain why he has been the cause of so much volubility in others”. A quarter

Best books… Roy Foster The emeritus professor of ...

Completely by chance, Edward Ray and his husband Mark Leese came up with a sunny yellow and red kitchen colour scheme that is a perfect match for a collection of Art Deco cups and plates that has been

Exhibition of the week Anna Ancher: Painting Light ...