• The Washington Peace Medal, engraved to bear a portrait of George Washington by Paul Revere in 1777, is at the heart of a new exhibition at the British Museum marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Declaring independence: USA 250 also features a ceremonial copy of the Declaration of Independence, handwritten in sheepskin and on loan from the West Sussex Record Office, known as the Sussex Declaration (it will be added halfway through the display’s run), a wampum belt representing the diplomacy between the Lenape people and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in 1712 (the Lenape later signed the Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778 with the Revolutionaries in what was the first formal treaty between an Indigenous Nation and the United States), and a pipe tomahawk given to Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), a Mohawk, Haudenosaunee leader, which represents the Mohawk alliance with the British. The free display can be seen in Room 3 until 29th November. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/declaring-independence-usa-250.

• The first UK exhibition of the works of Austrian painter Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793-1865) – and the first to be devoted solely to his landscapes – opens at the National Gallery today. Waldmüller: Landscapes features about 14 works including landscapes depicting scenes in the Prater, Vienna’s famous park, the Alpine region near Salzburg in Austria known as the Salzkammergut, views of Sicily, and later works such as Early Spring in the Vienna Woods (1861). Waldmüller, who was trained at the Academy in Vienna, visited London in 1856, bringing with him 34 works which were sold at auction following a private audience with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, each of whom bought one. The exhibition in Room 1, which has been organised in cooperation with the Belvedere, Vienna, runs until 20th September. Admission is free. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/waldmüller-landscapes.

• A new display celebrating 300 years since the debut of two operas by George Frideric Handel in London – Alessandro and Scipione – is running at the Foundling Museum in Bloomsbury. 300 Years of the ‘Rival Queens’: Handel’s 1726 Opera Season focuses on Italian soprano Faustina Bordoni and her rival Francesca Cuzzoni and how Handel carefully composed operas with two equally important roles to suit both singers, known as the ‘rival queens’. Admission charge applies. Runs until 25th October. For more, see https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/handels-1726-opera-season/

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