So Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo in October 1876, charting the latest instalment of the Holbein cult. He was renting a room in Isleworth, west London, still hoping for a religious career

Objects and props, theatrical lighting and the hint of hidden narratives mark an evolution in Michael Alford’s approach to painting the female nude. With an abiding interest in depicting human figures

Objects and props, theatrical lighting and the hint of hidden narratives mark an evolution in Michael Alford’s approach to painting the female nude. With an abiding interest in depicting human figures

John P. Murphy New Deal Art 336pp. Thames and Hudson. Paperback, £19.99. Seymour Fogel’s “Wealth of the Nation”, installed in 1942 in a federal building in Washington DC, depicts a group of workers en

The Marlborough Family by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Icebergs, ferocious storms and a mutinous crew feature in Mary Ann Patten’s little-known but epic journey