Features
The studied elegance of Antoine Watteau
The artist left behind thousands of drawings when he died at the age of 37, and some of the loveliest examples can be seen at the British Museum
John Piper’s passion for tradition
In his designs for stained glass the artist found his perfect medium, taking a modern approach to an age-old form
Contemporary art gets a glorious new home at Goodwood
The Duke of Richmond has been filling the grounds of his Sussex estate with sculpture, and the results are a breath of fresh air
Surround-sound art finds a perfect home in Portugal
A former monastery is an apt setting for the eerie installations of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller
Elizabeth I’s favourite kitchen utensil
The Virgin Queen was not known for her cookery skills, so why was she often painted holding a sieve?
Acquisitions of the month: May 2025
Chardin’s luscious still life of fruit and Guercino’s commanding King David are among last month’s most significant museum acquisitions
The Loewe Craft Prize keeps thinking outside the box
The best pieces among this year’s finalists blend skill and elegance with an awareness of questions about memory and inheritance
For Hans Hess, German Expressionism was a family matter
With parents who had been notable collectors, the émigré art historian knew the work of many of his subjects intimately
The Met’s Rockefeller Wing now stands taller than ever
The museum’s refurbished galleries of art from Africa, Oceania and the Americas now have the prominence they deserve
The twist and turns in Ruth Asawa’s reputation
The artist mixed making abstract sculpture with populist public commissions. As her reputation soars, her generosity of spirit is as apparent as her inventiveness
A brief history of Apollo’s cameo appearances
A personal tally of finding the magazine’s readers in films, television and fiction – and among the Rolling Stones
Up and away – the art of the Ascension
Depictions of Christ’s ascent to heaven often manage to be both deadly serious and upliftingly silly
Amédée Ozenfant, the purest of the Purists
The French artist believed in his paintings being stylistically uniform and infinitely replicable – an idea that, a century on, has not done him any favours
Has the QR code had its day?
Though museums use them to provide more information, QR codes can conceal as much as they reveal
Why Gertrude Stein’s home was the first museum of modern art
In Paris, the American writer and her siblings were early patrons of the likes of Matisse and Picasso, making their Left Bank apartment a magnet for art lovers
How Jenny Saville turns paint into flesh
In her depictions of the human form, the artist pushes paint to its limits, explains Sarah Howgate of the National Portrait Gallery in London
The Basque Country vineyard with an altar to wine
Nestled just south of the Pyrenees, Bodega Otazu is home to its very own ‘Catedral del Vino’, as well as a 2,000-strong collection of contemporary art
The fine art of magazine advertising
A look back at Apollo’s commercial pages through the decades reveals shifts in consumer tastes – as well as some distinctly quirky offerings
Wining and dining with Duccio
The Old Master was hardly alone among his contemporaries in being partial to a glass – or a bottle – of red
‘The ghost of a figure shimmers into view’
Robert Macfarlane is fascinated by a watery bronze by British sculptor Laurence Edwards
The curious career of Jan van Kessel
In his teeming depiction of animals about to enter the ark, Jan van Kessel put an inventive spin on an original by his grandfather, Jan Brueghel the Elder
Storm King Art Center goes for growth
The vast sculpture park in upstate New York is reopening after an ambitious expansion that is planting the seeds of its future success
Acquisitions of the month: April 2025
Maarten van Heemskerck’s Entombment of Christ and a triptych by Joan Mitchell are among the most significant museum acquisitions of last month
The shows to see in and around New York this month
With hundreds of exhibitions and events vying for attention in the city during Frieze and TEFAF, Apollo’s editors pick out the shows not to miss
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