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

England in the 18th century had no love for its landscape, preferring instead Italianate views, until George Stubbs came and decided to paint his horses true to the setting in which they lived, as Bendor Grosvenor reveals

Close your eyes and picture Anne Boleyn. Chances are you can conjure up a pretty clear and detailed image in your imagination – because few figures in English history seem as visually familiar as Henr

One day in 1936, the barrister Clifford Mortimer banged his head on the door frame of a London taxi and was immediately struck blind. He would never be able to see again. Then in his early 50s, he nev

With emerald hills here and sinuous rivers there, a Yorkshire farmer’s years spent surveying the land on horseback resulted in a lavish and surprisingly accurate atlas of Elizabeth I’s Britain, says Ben Lerwill

Quiz of the week 1) Which Shakespeare play ...