The anonymous 16th-century painter who recorded a scene of everyday life at the king’s fountain (Chafariz d’El Rei) in Lisbon depicted an impressive range of people and animals. In addition to a swan, ...

Have you ever looked at an antique painting and wondered why everyone looks so green around the gills? Poor diet? Not hydrating enough? Did they just completely run out of Drunk Elephant? The answer ...

There’s a lot of gold in the National Gallery’s major winter exhibition. Not golden light or painted approximations of its effects, but the actual stuff: hammered gold leaf filling the haloes of ...