The Taking of Christ , 1602, oil on ...

From Raphael and the mysterious Fornarina to Jan Steen with his flirtatious Margriet and Suzanne Valadon, who broke many hearts until she lost hers to a much younger man, Nick Trend explores five romances that made art history

So close was Jean-François Millet to the humble peasants he painted that he wore clogs and coarse clothing. He was steeped in nostalgia, yet inspired avant-garde artists from van Gogh to Salvador Dalí, finds Mary Miers

The piece I’d never part with

TALK about being overshadowed. Sculptor Andrea della Robbia, ...

With so many medals to fit in the tiniest miniature she had ever worked on, limner Elizabeth Meek literally had to hold her breath when painting the portrait of Charles III, but the result is a resounding success