Henrietta by vanessa bell

With a strength of character that belied her fragile looks, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun pushed the boundaries of royal portraiture and, after the French Revolution, challenged the loss of female influence via every frill and fold in her work

This autumn, the V&A unveils a captivating exhibition dedicated to Marie Antoinette, the ill-fated French queen whose brief yet eventful life continues to bewitch audiences and fuel the creative imagination. Marie-Claire Chappet traces her enduring influence on culture and fashion

BEFORE SARAH JANE BROWN BECAME A PAINTER, she learned to read the sea. Not in the romanticised, windswept sense; but practically, viscerally, day after day. With over two decades working on the water

After a life-threatening illness spurred Helene Kröller-Müller to make plans for a museum, she bought modern art voraciously, forming an extraordinary collection that shaped the early-20th-century perception of Vincent van Gogh

A new exhibition of Neo-Impressionists celebrates an influential art patron

Does a newly found Nicholas Hilliard miniature portray Shakespeare’s patron the Earl of Southampton?