• The world famous Trafalgar Square Christmas tree will be illuminated tonight. This year is the 76th year that tree has been gifted from the City of Oslo, Norway, in recognition of the support Britain gave the nation during World War II. The tree lighting ceremony kicks off at 6pm and the tree will remain in the square until 4th January, the 12th night of Christmas, before being recycled and used as mulch in gardens around the city. You can follow the tree on X. Meanwhile, in other Christmas-related activities, the Princess of Wales will host a special Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey tomorrow night. The service will be filmed for broadcast and will air in the UK as part of a special programme on ITV1 and ITVX on Christmas Eve.

• The first-ever exhibition dedicated to the career of Italian Renaissance painter Francesco Pesellino (about 1422– 1457) opens at The National Gallery today. Pesellino was active in Florence in the mid-15th century but his early death at 35 and the subsequent misattribution of his surviving works meant he’s become one of the greatest Renaissance painters you’ve never heard of. Highlights include two ‘Story of David’ panels which date from the last years of his career and are being displayed in the round, the ‘Pistoia Trinity Altarpiece’, one of only two large-scale altarpieces Pesellino is known to have produced (and unfinished at his death), and his small-scale devotional work Madonna and Child (1450s). Entry to the exhibition in Room 46 is free. Can be seen until 10th March next year. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/pesellino-a-renaissance-master-revealed.

• Coalescence, an artwork by designer Paul Cocksedge, is making its London debut at the Old Royal Naval College’s Painted Hall from Saturday. Made from over 2,500 pieces of coal – the amount consumed by a single 200 watt light bulb in a year – Coalescence will “create an intricate play of shadow and sparkle that draws on the lustrous quality of the anthracite, a form of high-carbon coal”, inviting visitors to question our dependence on fossil fuels. Also on show in the Nelson Room, will be a new artwork, 20 Trees, which brings a message about ecological balance by blending mathematical calculations with dwindling natural resources.