WHAT is she thinking about, I wonder?” I gazed at the little chess piece sitting in the display case in front of me. A crown sat on the figure’s head, indicating her status as a queen. One hand cupped

The history of Hampton Court Palace in Surrey is peppered with the intriguing stories of its grace-and-favour residents. They lived with their families and staff in self-contained apartments within th

There’s no shortage of great picks at this year’s TEFAF Maastricht, the Netherlands, including a Barbara Hepworth sculpture, a pastel portrait by Dora Maar and two sections of 4th-century Roman mosaics

John Piper was a modernist who rejected Modernism, a versatile artist who defied categories, but one who remained true to the spirit and detail of the places he painted

WE HAVEN’T EVEN sat down and Will Pembroke is already infecting us with his enthusiasm. He is in his office at Wilton House, the Wiltshire stately home that, as William Alexander Sidney Herbert, 18th

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