Art history

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

Q&A Who 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

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Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones responds to listener questions and popular internet search queries about one of the dominant powers of the ancient world, the Persian empire. (Image by Getty Images)

The Persian empire: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Jerry Brotton on the Renaissance. (Image by Getty Images)

The Renaissance: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

(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?

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The Regency era: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

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

Simon Schama on the Romantics . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

Afua Hirsch: “The prejudice still surrounding Africa is absolutely rooted in a racist past” . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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?

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Afua Hirsch with the Samburu people, Kenya

Africa’s cultural liberation . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

The genius of Artemisia . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

'Self Portrait' by Vincent van Gogh, autumn 1887 (Photo by Marc DEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Why did Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear?

Podcast Mary Beard Transcript

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

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

Mary Beard on the nude in western art . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.