Art conservators from Northumbria University have received an early Christmas gift in the form of a secret 16th century nativity painting. The conservators were hard at work investigating damage to a 400-year-old depiction of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist from the Bowes Museum’s collection when they discovered the nativity scene hiding beneath the painting. Continue reading
London-based artist Anne Hardy has transformed the façade of Tate Britain with apocalyptic Christmas decorations to reflect the climate crisis. Tate Britain’s annual winter commission is now a highly anticipated festive event for art aficionados across the city. Continue reading
This week, archaeologists announced that the earliest known cave art by modern humans has been discovered in Indonesia. Dating to nearly 44,000 years old, it might even be the oldest narrative story in human history. Continue reading
This weekend, visitors at the high-profile Art Basel fair in Miami have been going bananas for one very unusual piece of art. Continue reading
Everyone’s a winner! All four nominees for this year’s Turner prize have won, after controversially asking the judges if they could split the £40,000 prize. Continue reading
On Monday, the Danish court prohibited two watchmakers from destroying a painting to make a collection of luxury watches. Altering the artwork and reintroducing it for sale in the public domain without the permission of the artist, Tal R, was held to have violated Danish copyright law. Continue reading
Cambridge University’s Jesus College will return a looted bronze sculpture to Nigeria. This unprecedented move further fuels the growing repatriation movement across British institutions. Continue reading
In the early hours of Monday morning, exquisite diamond jewellery of “immeasurable worth” was stolen from the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden. The dramatic heist is possibly the largest post-war art theft in history. Continue reading
Huge parts of central Venice were engulfed last week by disastrous floods, with water suddenly rising over 180cm above mean water level. Climate change has been blamed for the unprecedented flooding, which is the worst to have struck the city in 53 years. Continue reading
The sale of a sculpture by Banksy at Sotheby’s today (19 November) has revived a caustic feud between the prankster-artist and his contemporary, Andy Link. Continue reading
