Grumpy Art Historian

Confederate monuments celebrate a failed war to defend slavery. Most were erected long after the Civil War as a deliberate assertion of ...

This summer I learned to swim, and it prompted reflection on the similarities between swimming pools and art galleries. No, really ... be...

'Ritratto di nonno con nipote' by Domenico Ghirlandaio Picture:  Web Gallery of Art Data prove that museums are letting me do...

Picture: University of Cambridge Margaret Thatcher's archives were recently transferred to the nation in lieu of tax, under a sch...

Picture: Wikipedia Free admission to museums is quite nice, but it's not so terrible in places like, er, the whole of the rest o...

I like curators, especially good ones. So I should be delighted to discover that there's a Campaign for Good Curatorship . The campai...

I love Italy, really I do. Great food, great art, great landscape. Transport is fantastic; well-maintained roads (well, better than UK or U...

Picture: National Gallery Sunday was 'pose day'. It's part of museum week, a Twitter initiative that encourages people...

James Millingen Some Remarks on the state of learning and the fine-arts in Great Britain J. Rodwell 1831 London is still blessed wi...

Picture: Amazon Robert Hewison  Cultural Capital: The rise and fall of creative Britain   Verso 2014 £14.99 This narrative history ...

Picture: Hyperallergic Museums are banning 'selfie sticks', the extendable poles that attach to your phone to take Bigger Bette...