Art history

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa portrait

Q&A Who was the Mona Lisa?

High heaven: Lindisfarne Castle rises above the beach. It's a steep climb to the castle entrance. (Photo by Alamy)

History Explorer The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Edward Carey talks about Madame Tussaud on the History Extra podcast. (Wax Figure of Marie Tussaud (Photo by Getty Images)

The story of Madame Tussaud

(Image by Bettmann/Getty)

10 photographs that made history

British writer Hilary Mantel photographed at home. (Photo by Lionel Derimais/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images)

Hilary Mantel on the secrets of successful historical fiction

The ninth-century Alfred Jewel, adorned with the inscription: "Alfred ordered me to be made". This masterpiece of Anglo-Saxon art is thought to have been an aestel, a pointer used to follow text. (Picture by Alamy)

10 ways the Anglo-Saxons changed the course of British history

Da Vinci's sketch 'The Vitruvian Man'. Da Vinci's talents ranged from anatomy to military engineering, and many of his innovations were not explored further for several centuries. (Photo by: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

Leonardo da Vinci’s genius: 7 of his visions for the future

Unknown Woman Wearing a Hat by Isaac Oliver, c.1590-5. Features in Elizabethan Treasures: Miniatures by Hilliard and Oliver, at the National Portrait Gallery from 21 February 2019 to 19 May 2019. (Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II 2019)

Pocket-sized paintings: Elizabethans in miniature

An unidentified sitter for photographer Gerty Simon. (© The Bernard Simon Estate, Wiener Library Collections)

The lost sitters of photographer Gerty Simon – can you help?

The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Illustration by Kate Greenaway, 1888. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

In pictures: fairytales through history

British Artist Ivon Hitchens. (Image by Bridgeman)

My history hero: Chris Packham chooses Ivon Hitchens

Married architects Alison and Peter Smithson at work, October 1961. The pair were architect members of the Independent Group and had an impact on the British urban scene via what became known as ‘New Brutalism’. (Photo by Davies/Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Who were the original Independent Group?

York Minster's south transept rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red. The Tudor Rose became known as “the flower of England” and is today England's national flower. (Angelo Hornak/Alamy Stock Photo)

A brief history of the English rose

Actor Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster in James Whale’s classic 1931 film. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: the birth of a gothic monster