Culture

Six paintings that tell fascinating, not widely known stories of people from the African diaspora in England’s history, including the Roman emperor who strengthened Hadrian’s Wall and Queen Victoria’s god daughter, have been unveiled by English Heritage.

Egyptomania is expected to hit London as the largest collection of Tutankhamun’s treasures to ever leave Egypt goes on tour for the last time. Tarek El Awady, Egyptologist and curator of the exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, told Sky News “everyone in the world knows Tutankhamun” and the “unique show” was a celebration of 100 years since the tomb was discovered.

A newly discovered biblical painting by Rembrandt is to be shown in the UK for the first time as part of the largest ever exhibition exploring his early years.
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford said on Monday it had secured the loan of Let the Little Children Come to Me, which was offered at a German auction in 2014 listed as “Netherlandish School”.

On 11 March 1744, Samuel Baker, a “joyous fellow” with a “fondness for plum-coloured coats”, who for a decade had sold books from his corner table in Covent Garden’s Angel and Crown pub, brought the hammer down on his first auction. Held at his Exeter Exchange salesroom on London’s Strand, the “several hundred scarce and valuable books” fetched a then substantial £826.

William Morris once said, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” – and it’s a rule that the V&A Museum lives by. As the world’s leading museum of art and design, it has over 2.3 million objects from the world of decorative arts within its collection (not to mention many created by Morris himself).