Johannes Vermeer brightened his native Delft with luminous pictures of women caught in intimate moments, but the serenity of his work, of which he produced remarkably little, is at odds with a life mired in debt, as Carla Passino discovers

Andrew Graham-Dixon tells Carla Passino why he thinks we have read Vermeer wrong all along– and who the Girl with a Pearl Earring really is

The Ear of the Beholder Huon Mallalieu (Thomas ...

Works by Offenbach Véronique Gens (soprano); Chœur et Orchestre National des Pays de La Loire/Hervé Niquet Alpha Classics ALPHA1168 55:49 mins This is not for the po-faced. If you enjoy charming and i

The search for still-life subjects led the artist Kate Friend to some of the greatest gardens and gardeners in the country, discovers Tiffany Daneff

Did you know that Thomas Müntzer, leader of the German Peasants’ War in 1525, used a rainbow flag to rally his followers? It’s an aptly exuberant image for the radical charisma of Müntzer, and for the