Art market

The form of St Mary Magdalene started life ...

When Anne Pitt sat for Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun in Rome, the French artist portrayed the young British aristocrat as Hebe, daughter of Zeus–complete with an eagle painted from life. Sarah Fortescue traces the picture’s story

Creation and destruction, death and rebirth: Anselm Kiefer at eighty

Isabella d’Este, Marchioness of Mantua, bargained, cajoled and went behind her family’s back to get what she desired. Meet 16th-century Italy’s most formidable collector

The shared struggles of Hieronymous Bosch, Max Beckmann and William Kentridge

An ocean of prejudice met the American heiresses who came to Britain at the dawn of the 20th century, but there was more to them than their wealth. Some earned their own titles, one flew helicopters and another made history as Britain’s first female MP