Art
Minerva
A Stitch In Time
Jenny Davenport marvels at all the astoundingly intricate works of medieval English embroidery in Opus Anglicanum, a major exhibition currently on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
9 min |
January/February 2017
Minerva
The Hidden Secrets Of Lake Nemi
Headlines last spring announced that a third pleasure-boat built for the Emperor Caligula (r AD 37–41) was about to be recovered from the murky waters of Lake Nemi near Rome. As it turned out, after investigating the facts with the former director of the Museo delle Navi at Nemi, archaeologist Giuseppina Ghini, this was not entirely a matter of ‘much ado about nothing’.
3 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
Voyage Of No Return
In 1845 the ill-fated Sir John Franklin and his 129-man crew sailed off in search of the Northwest Passage and were never seen again – at least that is what was thought until some local Inuit people were interviewed. Roger Williams investigates one of Britain's greatest naval mysteries - the subject of an exhibition at London's National MAritime Museum.
9 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
Defend Or Destroy?
Guy de la Bédoyère charts the rise and fall of the formidable and privileged Praetorian Guard who were paid to serve as the elite bodyguard of Roman emperors but who might equally well turn on their masters if, and when, they chose to do so.
9 min |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Minerva
The Wrong Caesars
As a dozen Renaissance gilded silver treasures, the Aldobrandini Tazze or Twelve Caesars, go on show at Waddesdon Manor, Professor Mary Beard unscrews the puzzle of how the Roman emperors and dishes got mixed up
8 min |
May/June 2018
Minerva
Horse Sense
Dominic Green explores the fi ne equine imagery on Ancient Greek vases and coins in a wide-ranging exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
8 min |
May/June 2018
Minerva
Fashion plates
Historian, curator and ex-champion jouster, Tobias Capwell explains how, during the 14th and 15th centuries, a young man wanted to be seen wearing the latest design of armour – not just for show, but because it could help to save his life in combat.
10+ min |
November/December 2016
Minerva
Victorian Classics
As the iconic painting Flaming June returns to Leighton House Museum in London, Dominic Green looks at the influence of the Classical World on the inscrutable artist Frederic, Lord Leighton.
9 min |
November/December 2016
Minerva
Picasso – Half Man, Half Bull
Recent stories rom the world of art, archaeology and museums.
3 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
Metamorphoses Of The Poet's Mind
John Davie pays homage to the great Roman poet Ovid who died in exile 2000 years ago this year.
9 min |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva
For The Love Of The Gods
An exhibition in Naples examines the timeless power of Greek myths, which are as vibrant today as when the Roman poet Ovid penned his Metamorphoses 2000 years ago.
7 min |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva
The Galloping Goldsmiths
Everyone has heard of the Scythians but where did they come from, how did they live and what was it that helped them to rise to power?
6 min |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva
Taking The Tablets
Paul Chrystal puts the record straight regarding how we know what we know about the Romans.
9 min |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva
A Colourful Past
One of the ways that the Fitzwilliam Museum is celebrating its 200th anniversary is by the staging of a splendid exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at the end of July – a very fitting tribute to its founder, reports.
9 min |
July/August 2016
Minerva
Devotion And Decadence
After its tour to four venues across the US, then to Paris and Copenhagen, Devotion and Decadence: The Berthouville Treasure and Roman Luxury has reached its final destination at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) in New York.
4 min |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Minerva
Twilight Of The Gods
Professor Maarten J Raven, who is retiring after 40 years at the National Museum of Antiquities of the Netherlands, shows us round his farewell exhibition, Gods of Egypt.
5 min |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Minerva
King Of The World
Far from being simply a power-grabbing ruler and military strategist, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal was a scholar, who assembled the first comprehensive library in the world, discovers Dominic Green when he visits the British Museums new exhibition.
8 min |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Minerva
Anglo-Saxon Attitudes
David Miles pays fulsome tribute to the late Jean Manco and reviews her last book probing the roots of the Anglo-Saxons, which is also the subject of a landmark exhibition on show at the British Library.
7 min |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Minerva
Pointing The Finger
The Campana art collection was assembled in Italy, acquired by Napoleon III, and then dispersed among the museums of France, including the Louvre, and also the Hermitage in Russia; Dalu Jones traces its journey.
7 min |
November/December 2018 Volume 29 Number 6
Minerva
In The Lap Of ​​​​​​​Luxury
Nicole Benazeth visits an exhibition of treasures in Arles that shows how the other half lived in the ancient world.
8 min |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva
Magnificent Monteverdi
Tom Ford pays tribute to the ground-breaking Italian composer, born 450 years ago, one of the great musicians celebrated in the V&A‘s upcoming exhibition Opera: Passion Power and Politics.
7 min |
September/October 2017 Volume 28 Number 5
Minerva
Caesarea Will Rise Again
Archaeology in Caesarea – King Herod’s city, Roman and Byzantine provincial capital, Crusader stronghold and Ottoman village – has been slow in getting off the ground. But now a £47-million renewal project, one of the largest of its kind in Israel, is set to put the ancient city and its treasures firmly on the tourist map.
3 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
Casting Director
Artist Marc Quinn talks to Michael Squire about his latest work, Drawn From Life – a series of 12 sculptures installed in Sir John Soane’s Museum, – and reveals what it is about Classical art that has influenced his work.
9 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
The Colossus Of Rome
Dalu Jones discovers what happened to the largest amphitheatre in the world after the brutal public fights and barbaric contests ceased.
7 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
The Archaeologist Of Artists
Dominic Green looks at the sensual paintings of the acclaimed Victorian artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema currently on show at Leighton House in London.
10 min |
July/August 2017 Volume 28 Number 4
Minerva
Under The Volcano
Theresa Thompson investigates the history of a very hot subject, which can have cataclysmic results, at a new exhibition in Oxford.
10 min |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Minerva
Rendlesham Revealed
Archaeologists Faye Minter, Jude Plouviez and Christopher Scull have worked, together with four tireless detectorists, to locate, uncover and excavate the site of an important 7th-century Anglo-Saxon royal settlement in south-east Suffolk.
10 min |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Minerva
This Mysterious Monument
David Miles leafs through recent books on Stonehenge to see what’s new and what’s not.
9 min |
March/April 2017 Volume 28 Number 2
Minerva
Writing on the Wall
David J Breeze constructs a history of the different theories about Hadrian’s Wall – who constructed it, when and why?
7 min |
July/August 2016
Minerva
Standing up for the Classics
Lindsay Fulcher talks to the writer, broadcaster and lapsed comedian Natalie Haynes, who makes the ancient world not only accessible to a modern audience but relevant, funny and fascinating.
9 min |