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Art history

Drawing of an old and young man, possibly Salai, by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci’s private relationships: what's known?

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

Leonardo & Michelangelo: rivalry and inspiration

Leonardo da Vinci’s full-scale cartoon drawing of Isabella d’Este

Leonardo da Vinci's patrons: the people who paid for the masterpieces

Salt cellar with Neptune and Tellus by Benvenuto Cellini

Benvenuto CelliniHow the 'bad boy' sculptor gives us a fresh perspective on the Renaissance

'The Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci's paintings: a guide to 8 famous works

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)

Your guide to Leonardo da Vinci: his life, inventions and milestones in his career

500 years of women’s self-portraits

Michelangelo was a Renaissance sculptor, painter and visionary. This 17th-centruy portrait was completely shortly after his death

Your guide to Renaissance sculptor and painter Michelangelo

Cellini: the “supreme scoundrel of the Renaissance”

An illustration of a 17th century plague doctor

Fake historyHunting down false facts about the past

Formidable dynasties of the Italian Renaissance

Madame Tussaud's exhibition at Baker Street, London. But who was her first waxwork? (Photo by Bettmann, via Getty Images)

Q&AWho was Madame Tussaud’s first waxwork?

Actor Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster in James Whale's classic 1931 film

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

The Persian empire: everything you wanted to know

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know

(L to R) Isaac Newton, Henry VIII and Bal Gangadhar Tilak

How did people cope with ‘lockdowns’ of the past? And were they really all so productive?

The Regency era: everything you wanted to know

Vivid experiences: a self-portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian Baroque artist whose brilliant renderings of biblical and classical scenes earned her commissions from some of the most powerful figures in 17th century Europe. (Photo by Araldo de Luca/Corbis via Getty Images)

Artemisia Gentileschi: how pain powered the great 17th-century artist

Simon Schama photographed in Hauteville House, Guernsey (Photo by Oxford Films, Photographer Eddie Knox)

Simon Schama on the Romantics

Afua Hirsch in Kenya. (Photo by Clear Story/BBC)

Afua Hirsch: "The prejudice still surrounding Africa is absolutely rooted in a racist past"

People gather around the Mona Lisa painting after its return in January 1914

Mona Lisa heist: how do you steal the world's most famous painting?

Afua Hirsch with the Samburu people, Kenya

Africa’s cultural liberation

Self portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi as a lute player (Photo by Getty Images)

The genius of Artemisia

Why did Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear?

A history of nakedness in art: Mary Beard on her new BBC series Shock of the Nude

Historian Mary Beard at the Oxford Literary Festival 2019. (Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images)

Mary Beard on the nude in western art

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

Portrait of Henry V

Q&AWhy is Henry V's portrait in profile?

The Venus de Milo sculpture

Q&AWhen was the Venus de Milo found?

Da Vinci's Mona Lisa portrait

Q&AWho was the Mona Lisa?