Martin Gayford

Whited sepulchre

4 February 2017 9:00 am

Michelangelo’s Tomb for Pope Julius II: Genesis and Genius edited by Christoph Luitpold Frommel, translated by A. Lawrence Jenkens JrYale,…

‘Eli’, 2002, by Lucian Freud

Seeing everything in black and white

2 February 2017 3:00 pm

Two divergent approaches to printmaking are on view in an exhibition of graphic work by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud…

Moses has a formidable authority, with the physique of a bodybuilder and a beard that cascades like Niagara Falls

Whited sepulchre

2 February 2017 3:00 pm

‘How often’, wrote Sigmund Freud in 1914, ‘have I mounted the steep steps from the unlovely Corso Cavour to the…

The only way is up

28 January 2017 9:00 am

Michael Andrews once noted the title of an American song on a scrap of paper: ‘Up is a Nice Place…

The only way is up

26 January 2017 3:00 pm

Michael Andrews once noted the title of an American song on a scrap of paper: ‘Up is a Nice Place…

Great leaps forward

21 January 2017 9:00 am

In the 1940s Lucian Freud took another young painter, Sandra Blow, up to the top of a bombed church in…

‘Breakwater’, 1994, by Sandra Blow

Great leaps forward

19 January 2017 3:00 pm

In the 1940s Lucian Freud took another young painter, Sandra Blow, up to the top of a bombed church in…

Shape shifter

14 January 2017 9:00 am

Victor Pasmore once told me how he greeted Pablo Picasso at Victoria station. The great man had come to Britain…

‘Spiral Motif in Green, Violet, Blue and Gold: The Coast of the Inland Sea’, 1950, by Victor Pasmore

Shape shifter

12 January 2017 3:00 pm

Victor Pasmore once told me how he greeted Pablo Picasso at Victoria station. The great man had come to Britain…

‘Bolshevik’, 1920, by Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev

Back in the USSR

29 December 2016 3:00 pm

For much of 1517 Michelangelo Buonarroti was busy quarrying marble in the mountains near Carrara. From time to time, however,…

Back in the USSR

29 December 2016 3:00 pm

For much of 1517 Michelangelo Buonarroti was busy quarrying marble in the mountains near Carrara. From time to time, however,…

O come, let us adore him

10 December 2016 9:00 am

On 27 July 1613 a man prostrated himself in the church of San Pedro Mártir in Toledo, having first made…

Left: Maíno, 1612–14: ‘The Adoration of the Kings’ Right: ‘The Adoration of the Shepherds’

O come, let us adore him

8 December 2016 3:00 pm

On 27 July 1613 a man prostrated himself in the church of San Pedro Mártir in Toledo, having first made…

Trivial pursuits

3 December 2016 9:00 am

Robert Rauschenberg, like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, was a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Unlike Shakespeare’s character, however, he made…

‘Bed’, 1955, by Robert Rauschenberg

Trivial pursuits

1 December 2016 3:00 pm

Robert Rauschenberg, like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, was a ‘snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Unlike Shakespeare’s character, however, he made…

The beast in man

26 November 2016 9:00 am

Ernest Hemingway loved going to the zoo, but not on Sundays. The reason, he explained, was that, ‘I don’t like…

A choice of art books

26 November 2016 9:00 am

Suitably for a year so full of cataclysms and disturbing portents, 2016 is the quincentenary of the death of Hieronymus…

‘Scenes of the Private and Public Life of the Animals’, 1842, by J.J. Grandville

The beast in man

24 November 2016 3:00 pm

Ernest Hemingway loved going to the zoo, but not on Sundays. The reason, he explained, was that, ‘I don’t like…

Enigma variations

5 November 2016 9:00 am

On 2 August 1933 one of the more improbable meetings of the 20th century took place when Albert Einstein had…

Enigma variations

3 November 2016 3:00 pm

On 2 August 1933 one of the more improbable meetings of the 20th century took place when Albert Einstein had…

Romantic modern

29 October 2016 9:00 am

In 1932 Paul Nash posed the question, is it possible to ‘go modern’ and still ‘be British?’ — a conundrum…

Visionary: ‘Battle of Germany’, 1944, by Paul Nash

Romantic modern

27 October 2016 2:00 pm

In 1932 Paul Nash posed the question, is it possible to ‘go modern’ and still ‘be British?’ — a conundrum…

Shady past

22 October 2016 9:00 am

David Hockney: It is a kind of joke, but I really mean it when I say Caravaggio invented Hollywood lighting.…

Face time

20 October 2016 2:00 pm

As a chat-up line it was at least unusual. On 8 January 1927, a 46-year-old man approached a young woman…

‘Portrait of Lee Miller as l’Arlésienne’, 1937, by Pablo Picasso

Face time

20 October 2016 2:00 pm

As a chat-up line it was at least unusual. On 8 January 1927, a 46-year-old man approached a young woman…