Galleries

This Week in London – American independence documents; 120 years of the Piccadilly Line and Food Season at the British Library…

by exploringlondon
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. PICTURE: Phil Lev/Unsplash

• One of the earliest British reports of American independence is at the heart of a temporary display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Opening on Monday, the display – which marks the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on 4th July – features a letter dated 10th July, 1776, and a handwritten copy of the Declaration made between 5th and 10th July, 1776, which were sent to John Mantagu, 4th Early of Sandwich and First Lord of the Admiralty by Vice-Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, commander-in-chief of the North American Station. The documents are believed to be the first written accounts of American Independence to reach Britain and pre-date the first known arrival of a copy of the Declaration of the Continental Congress, known as the Dunlap Broadside, in August the same year. The documents will be on display in the Caird Library. Admission is free but requires a ticket. To register in advance, head to rchiveandlibrary.rmg.co.uk/aeon.

• A season of events to celebrate 120 years of the Piccadilly Line is taking place over the next few months at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. The events include a creative workshop on Saturday in which participants can take inspiration from the line to create a unique textile artwork, a talk featuring railway historian and broadcaster Tim Dunn on 22nd August and the chance to go behind the scenes at the Museum Depot open days in September. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk.

• The British Library’s annual Food Season, now in its seventh year, kicks off on Saturday with the Food Season Big Weekend, a two day celebration featuring talks, tastings and live events. Among those appearing over the weekend are River Café co-founder Ruthie Rogers and culinary icon and actor Simon Russell Beale who is looking at the role of food in Shakespeare. The season runs until 2nd July. Others involved include food critic Jay Rayner chairing a discussion on chef Anthony Bourdain’s legacy, classicist Mary Beard and writer Charlotte Higgins exploring the food culture of ancient Pompeii and long-time friends and cultural icons Neneh Cherry and Andi Oliver reflecting on four decades of their shared life across music, food and family. Admission charges apply. For the full programme, head to https://events.bl.uk/whats-on/food-season.

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This Week in London – William Tyndale’s New Testament; Marilyn Monroe portraits; and, the Great Exhibition Road Festival…

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PICTURE: Alex Tai/Unsplash

• The 500 year story of one of the smallest yet most revolutionary books in English history is being told at St Paul’s Cathedral. A Dangerous Calling: 500 Years of William Tyndale’s New Testament, which opens tomorrow, provides a rare chance for visitors to see a first edition of Tyndale’s translation up close in the cathedral library (one of only three in existence) as well as access to a new digitised version on the cathedral floor. The exhibition can be seen until 27th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.stpauls.co.uk/whats-on/exhibition-dangerous-calling-500-years-of-william-tyndales-new-testament

• Marilyn Monroe’s life, career and legacy is the subject of a new exhibition which opened at the National Portrait Gallery this week. Marking 100 years since her birth, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait features works by the likes of Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon. There’s also unseen photographs portraits taken by Allan Grant at Monroe’s Brentwood residence a day before her death in August, 1962, in a session for Life magazine. The display can be seen until 6th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2026/marilyn-monroe-a-portrait

• The Great Exhibition Road Festival kicks off in South Kensington this weekend, marking 175 years since the 1881 Great Exhibition. The event features workshops, talks, performances and installations with organisations ranging from the Natural History Museum and Science Museum taking part along with Imperial College London, the Royal Parks, the V&A and Royal Albert Hall. For more on the festival, head to https://www.greatexhibitionroadfestival.co.uk/.

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This Week in London – Lost music venues; the Iraq war remembered; and, ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’ extended…

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• Lost UK music venues are recalled in a new exhibition opening at the V&A in South Kensington on Saturday. Lost Music Venues features more than 100 objects celebrating 50 lost venues and includes gig posters, membership cards, club photography, band merch, and subculture fashions which have been gathered together following a call to the public. Highlights include handwritten Oasis lyrics, a Blur set list, Mark Webber’s briefcase from his stint as Pulp’s tour manager, the exterior sign from the Astoria London, Joan Baez’s note of support for Rainbow Theatre, a poster for an early Banksy exhibition held at The Arches, a bespoke club outfit designed by Vivienne Westwood, and flyers from Plastic People. Free to visit, the display can be seen until 30th October, 2027. For more, see vam.ac.uk.

• Marking the 15th anniversary of the end of the war in Iraq, a Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle will go on display outside the National Army Museum from next Tuesday to Sunday, 14th June. The vehicle has been recently decommissioned after more than 40 years of Army service and was present during operations in Iraq in 2004. It was almost certainly the vehicle in which then-Private Johnson Beharry earned the Victoria Cross for two separate acts of bravery under sustained enemy attack. Now Warrant Officer Class 1, Beharry became the first living British soldier in 35 years to be awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic actions in saving the lives of his comrades during ambushes in Iraq. In the first, after his platoon commander was wounded in an attack on 1st May, 2004, Beharry took control of a Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle and, despite being severely injured, he led his patrol to safety under heavy machine-gun fire from the enemy. In the second incident on 11th June, 2004, Beharry, who sustained a severe head injury when a rocket-propelled grenade detonated just six inches from his head, still managed to drive his vehicle out of danger and saved the lives of those around him before losing consciousness. Beharry’s Victoria Cross will be among the first medals from Lord Ashcroft’s collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses to go on display inside the museum from 2nd June. His Iraq Medal and Kosovo Medal will also be on display. For more, see https://www.nam.ac.uk/.

• Buckingham Palace have announced the landmark centenary exhibition at the King’s Gallery marking the centenary of the late Queen’s birth – Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style – will be extended by six months due to popular demand. The exhibition, which will now close on 18th April next year, is the largest exhibition of Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion ever staged featuring more than 300 items drawn from her personal fashion archive. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk/queenelizabeth. 

This Week in London -Courtauld carpet returns to Eltham; art from Asia-Pacific; London broadsides; and, a Blue Plaque for a ground-breaking astronomer…

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• An antique Chinese carpet which originally was part of furnishings at Eltham Palace has returned home after 80 years. The carpet, dyed in the “dynastic blue” of the Qing dynasty and featuring symbols including dragons, Buddhist emblems and masks, represents the demand for the Chinese decorative arts in the 1920s and 1930s and serves as a reminder of how Chinese art was produced, circulated, and displayed in Britain. The carpet, donated from the estate of Mrs M R Bernard – the niece of former palace owner Stephen Courtauld, has undergone extensive conservation work. It can be seen in what was Virginia Courtauld’s boudoir. Eccentric millionaires Stephen and Virginia Courtauld built a magnificent art deco mansion right next to the medieval Great Hall of Eltham Palace in 1936 but moved out in 1944 and passed the lease to the Army Educational Corps. Over the ensuing decades many of the original items in the palace were dispersed but English Heritage, which took over management of the palace in 1995, has been working to restore the interiors back to when the Courtaulds lived in them. Other original items which have returned to the palace in recent history including a gold telephone and a pair of Cartier brooches. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/eltham-palace-and-gardens/.

Pala Pothupitiye / Kalutara Fort, 2020–21 / Purchased 2021 with funds from Professor Emeritus Ian O’Connor AC and Anna Reynolds through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: QAGOMA, Brisbane/© Pala Pothupitiye

• The works of more than 40 artists from 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region are going on show at the V&A in South Kensington. Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific, to be held in The Porter Gallery, is being held in partnership with Australia’s Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art. Highlights include: Mchael Parekōwhat’s life-sized sculpture of a Mãori security guard, Kapa Haka (Whero) (2003); Pala Pothupitiye’s Kalutara Fort (2020-21) – a reimagined map of an historic Sri Lanka military camp; Brenda Fajardo, Elisabet Kauage, Mathias Kauage and John Siune’s There is still a war going on in Bougainville (1995) which responds to Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville conflict between 1988-98; and, a series of porcelain busts by Ah Xian. The exhibition opens on Saturday and runs until 10th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.vam.ac.uk/.

• The role broadsides played in spreading news, advice and gossip in London from the 16th century onwards is the subject of a new exhibition at the Guildhall Library. Broadsides: Speaking to the People explores the history of broadsides and how they were used to speak to the general public, high and low alike. Free to see. Runs until 29th October. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/exhibition-broadsides-speaking-to-the-people.

• Ground-breaking astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin has been honoured with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at the home in Notting Hill where she lived as a teenager. The plaque at 70 Lansdowne Road marks where Payne-Gaposchkin’s journey towards expanding our understanding of space began. Payne-Gaposchkin earned a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard after moving to the US. Her groundbreaking 1925 thesis proposed that stars are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, a discovery that fundamentally changed scientific understanding of the universe, and in 1927, she became the youngest astronomer ever to have a star of distinction next to her name in the publication American Men of Science. For more, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

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This Week in London – Henry Moore at Kew; The National Gallery expands online offering; and, Churchill’s paintings…

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• The largest outdoor exhibition of the art of Henry Moore – including a series of monumental sculptures – goes on display at Kew Gardens this Saturday. Henry Moore: Monumental Nature features 30 of Moore’s work placed across Kew’s landscapes and inside the Temperate House along with more than 90 smaller works on show in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Among the large sculptural works on show will be Large Two Forms, Oval with Points, Reclining Woman: Elbow, Locking Piece and Three Piece Sculpture: Vertebrae while the smaller works include bronzes as well as stone and wood carvings, prints and drawings. Meanwhile, from 5th June Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex is hosting a parallel exhibition of four more of Moore’s sculptures shown alongside newly commissioned pieces from contemporary artists. Both displays can be seen until 27th September. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.kew.org/kew-gardens.

• The entire collection of The National Gallery can be seen in a new online tour. The new Google Arts & Culture tour shows the 2024–25 Bicentenary redisplays of the whole collection, CC Land: The Wonder of Art. There’s also a highlights tour covering seven rooms which focuses on specific paintings including Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, Sebastiano del Piombo’s The Raising of Lazarus, Johannes Vermeer’s A Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun’s Self Portrait in a Straw Hat, Edouard Manet’s portrait of the artist Eva Gonzalès, Sir Thomas Lawrence’s The Red Boy and Claude Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond. The Google Arts & Culture National Gallery Complete Tour can be found at www.nationalgallery.org.uk/visiting/virtual-tours/google-street-view-virtual-tour, and the The Google Arts & Culture National Gallery Highlights Tour at www.nationalgallery.org.uk/stories/virtual-curated-tour.

• Now On: Winston Churchill: The Painter. The first major retrospective of Sir Winston Churchill’s paintings since his death, this display at the Wallace Collection brings together 50 of his works, more than half from private collections. As well as wartime scenes and Mediterranean views, they include still lives, portraits, Moroccan cityscapes and paintings of Churchill’s home of Chartwell. Runs until 29th November. Admission is free. For more, see www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/winston-churchill-the-painter/

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This Week in London – Zurbarán at the National Gallery; documents to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence; and, NIGO at the Design Museum…

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The Body of Saint Bonaventure, about 1629; Oil on canvas, 245 × 220 cm; Musée du Louvre, Paris © GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre)/Franck Raux

• The work of 17th century Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán is the subject of a new exhibition opening at the National Gallery this weekend. Zurbarán, the first major monographic exhibition on his work in the UK, features almost 50 paintings spanning the breadth of his career. They include life-size depictions of saints, altarpieces and still lifes such as Saint Bonaventure on His Bier, Saint Apollonia, The Crucifixion, The Crucified Chrisr with a Painter and Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose. Zurbarán (1598-1664) spent most of his life in Seville and, along with Diego Velázquez and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, is considered one of the leading Spanish artists of his era. Runs until 23rd August. Admission charge applies. The exhibition will travel on to the Musée du Louvre and then the Art Institute of Chicago. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk.

• Rare documents related to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the US are going on display in the City of London Heritage Gallery. The display, which marks the 250th anniversary of the signing, features two letters, dated 1775, which were sent to the City of London from the General Committee of Association of the City and County of New York and the Congress in Philadelphia along with a silk bookmark commemorating the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on 14th April, 1865, and the Roll of Fame recording the Honorary Freedom of the City of London opened at the entry for General Dwight D Eisenhower. Admission is free. The display, entered via the Guildhall Art Gallery, runs until 29th October. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/heritage-gallery-display-america-and-london.

• The first UK exhibition showcasing the multi-faceted work of Japanese designer and creative director NIGO opens at the Design Museum tomorrow. NIGO: From Japan with Love features more than 700 objects with highlights including a recreation of NIGO’s teenage bedroom, ceramics hand-thrown by NIGO and a life-size glass tea house made especially for the exhibition. Runs until 4th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/nigo-from-japan-with-love.

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This Week in London – Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion archive on show; London Transport Museum Depot’s open days; and, wartime London in art…

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Janet Sutherland, the royal christening robe, 1841. © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited 2026 | Royal Collection Trust.

• A christening robe, first worn by Queen Victoria’s eldest child, Princess Victoria, at her christening in 1841, and subsequently by 61 other royal babies including Queen Elizabeth II, is one of the stars of a new exhibition opening at The King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace tomorrow. Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style features around 200 items from Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion archive – the largest exhibition of her clothing ever staged. Other highlights include a Norman Hartnell apple-green gown worn by the Queen a state banquet given for President Eisenhower at the British Embassy in Washington, DC, in 1957; a crinoline-skirted blue gown and matching bolero jacket worn by the late Queen for her sister Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960; and, perhaps more surprisingly, a clear plastic raincoat made by Hardy Amies in the 1960s. The latter is just one example of late Queen’s private, off-duty wardrobe which is also included in the show. Other examples include a Harris tweed jacket and Balmoral Tartan skirt, designed by Norman Hartnell and worn in the 1950 and a green coat made by Angela Kelly. The exhibition runs until 18th October. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.rct.uk.

• Celebrate 120 years of the Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines and 70 years of the Routemaster bus at a London Transport Museum Depot open day. The first to be held this year, the four open days at the Acton Town facility, will allow visitors to discover the more than 320,000 objects not on display at the museum’s Covent Garden site including the chance to climb aboard historic train stock dating from 1927 and 1938, get a close-up look at the pioneering RM1 and RM2 buses, and explore everything from rare signalling equipment to models, maps, station architecture and posters. A programme of talks is also taking place across the weekend along with activities for kids, heritage demonstrations, displays and stalls. The days run from today – 9th April – through to Sunday (12th April). Admission charges apply. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/depot-open-days/icons-london.

• On Now: Beauty and Destruction: Wartime London in Art. This free exhibition at IWM London tells the story of London during World War II and features more than 45 paintings and drawings as well as photographs, films, objects and oral histories. Works include some by well-known artists such as Eliot Hodgkin, Graham
Sutherland, Henry Carr, Evelyn Dunbar, Duncan Grant and Edward Ardizzone as well as lesser known figures, many of whom were employed by the War Artists’ Advisory Committee. The works are presented under four themes -Travel, Thames, Street and Shelter – and highlights include Frances MacDonald’s Sketch for ‘London Docks’ (1944), John Edgar Platt’s Wartime traffic on the River Thames (1942) and fireman artist Leonard Rosoman’s The Houses of Parliament on Fire, May 1941 (1941) – which captures the last night of the Blitz. Other works in the display are Duncan Grant’s painting of that iconic symbol of wartime resistance, St Paul’s Cathedral, Henry Carr’s St Clement Dane’s Church on Fire after being Bombed (1941), Evelyn Gibbs’ WVS Clothing Exchange (1943) and Evelyn Dunbar’s Convalescent Nurses Making Camouflage Nets (1941). The display can be seen until 1st November. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/events/beauty-and-destruction-wartime-london-in-art.

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This Week in London – Sophia Duleep Singh at Kensington Palace; ‘Fairy Tales’ at the British Library; astronomers at the National Maritime Museum; and, the Science Museum celebrates ‘Star Trek’…

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Historic Royal Palaces conservator Nelson Garcia prepares a banner used by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) in the early 20th century, for display in a new exhibition at Kensington Palace. The exhibition ‘The Last Princesses of Punjab’ explores the life of Sophia Duleep Singh; suffragette, Punjabi princess and goddaughter of Queen Victoria. PICTURE: © Historic Royal Palaces

• A new exhibition celebrating the 150th anniversary of Punjabi princess and suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh opens at Kensington Palace today. The Last Princess of Punjab: The story of Sophia Duleep Singh and the women who shaped her explores the life of Sophia Duleep Singh and her intersections with six other women including her sisters Catherine and Bamba, her mother Bamba Muller, grandmother Jind Kaur and godmother Queen Victoria. On show is an ornately painted rocking horse from Princess Sophia’s childhood at Elveden Hall in Suffolk which was remodelled to resemble an Indian Mughal palace, an original copy of The Suffragette featuring an iconic image of Sophia selling copies of the magazine on the gate of Hampton Court Palace, a “No Vote, No Tax’ banner used in the early 1900s protest marches, and Princess Sophia’s handwritten letter to Winston Churchill reporting police brutality at the Black Friday suffragette march. And, for the first time since 1886, an iconic portrait of Jind Kaur will be reunited with real earrings she wore in the image. The exhibition runs until 8th November. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/whats-on/the-last-princesses-of-punjab/.

• A celebration of the fantastical creatures, heroes and villains that populate the world of fairy tales opens at the British Library tomorrow. Fairy Tales takes visitors on a journey through an mysterious forest and enchanted palace as they discover the origins and evolution of fairy tales. Items on show include a Mervyn Peake illustration made for an edition of Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm, early printed editions of the legend of Mulan, puppets of Kai and Gerda from the Little Angel Theatre’s production of The Snow Queen, a copy of Cinderella illustrated by Arthur Rackham, a beautiful manuscript illustration of a dragon from the Persian legend, the story of Darab, and the original manuscript of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Admission charge applies. Runs until 23rd August. For more, see https://events.bl.uk/exhibitions/fairy-tales.

• A new temporary space-themed gallery opens at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich tomorrow. Astronomers Take Over is a hands-on space that provides the opportunity to meet astronomers from the Royal Observatory just up the hill, participate in science demonstrations and ask questions about space and astronomy. The gallery also includes a planetarium which features live astronomers shows ranging from ‘Animals in Space’ for young visitors to ‘The Night Sky’ – a classical guide to the cosmos, and ‘Solar System Sightseeing’, an introduction to Earth’s celestial neighbourhood. Science theatre shows will also be held at the museum from 3rd April. Admission charge applies. The gallery is open to 2028. For more, see https://rmg.co.uk/takeover.

• The Science Museum in South Kensington is marking the 60th anniversary of Star Trek with a new program of events. They include the chance to see all 13 Star Trek films on one of the biggest screens in Europe as well as a free trail featuring iconic objects from the franchise’s archives and an exclusive range of anniversary merchandise for purchase. For more, see sciencemuseum.org.uk/star-trek-60.

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This Week in London – Sculpture at the V&A East; ‘Londoners on Trial’; and, Elsa Schiaparelli…

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Artist Thomas J Price unveiling ‘A Place Beyond’, outside of London’s V&A East Museum ahead of its opening on East Bank in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 18th April. PICTURE: David Parry/PA Media Assigbments for the V&A

• An 18 foot tall sculpture of a young person, holding a mobile phone and looking towards a horizon “full of possibilities”, has appeared outside the V& East Museum ahead of its public opening next month. A Place Beyond, the work of artist Thomas J Price, has been created from an amalgamation of images, 3D scans and observations and has been constructed in bronze using digital technologies and ancient techniques. Also announced this month have been the artists involved with New Work, the V&A’s new six-monthly rotating creative commissions programme. The artists – who include Turner Prize-nominated artist Rene Matić, Lawrence Lek, Laura Wilson, Tania Bruguera, Es Devlin, Shahed Saleem, Justinien Tribillon and Carrie Mae Weems – have been invited to reflect on east London’s layered histories and creative futures under the theme of Making East London. The works will be displayed across V&A East’s two sites – V&A East Museum and Storehouse – from the museum’s public opening on 18th April. For more, see vam.ac.uk.

• On Now: Londoners on Trial: Crime, Courts and the Public 1244-1924. This free exhibition at The London Archives explores the history of law and order in the city and draws on documents from famous cases involving the likes of 17th century pickpocket Moll Cutpurse, highwayman Dick Turpin, Jack Sheppard, Oscar Wilde, and suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst. runs until 25th February next year. For more, head to www.thelondonarchives.org/visit-us/exhibitions/londoners-on-trial.

• The work and impact of Elsa Schiaparelli, one of the 20th century’s most innovative fashion designers is the subject of a new exhibition at the V&A. Opening on Saturday in the Sainsbury Gallery, Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art follows the fashion house’s evolution from its origins through to its present day incarnation under creative director Daniel Roseberry. It features more than 200 objects including garments, accessories, jewellery, paintings, photographs, sculpture, furniture, perfumes and archive materials. Highlights include the V&A’s Skeleton􏰋 dress and the Tear dress as well as a hat shaped to look like an upside-down shoe – all of which were conceived in collaboration with Salvador Dalí. There will also be artworks by Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Man Ray on display. Runs until 1st November. Admission charge applies. For more, see vam.ac.uk.

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This Week in London – St Patrick’s Day celebrations; Banqueting House ‘sneak peeks’; and, George Stubbs…

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St Patrick’s Day celebration in 2022. PICTURE: Sebastien Mercier/iStockphoto

• The St Patrick’s Day parade and celebrations in Trafalgar Square take place this Sunday. The parade, which features Irish County􏰀Associations, marching bands, dancers, musicians and carnival performers, kicks off at noon and heads along Piccadilly, through Piccadilly Circus, down Regent Street and then Cockspur Street before ending in the square. In the square, Irish comedian Rachel Galvo will host the main stage where acts will include traditional and contemporary performances from the likes of Irish Culture Centre Hammersmith’s Singing and Reminiscence Choir, Moonlight: The Philip Lynott Enigma, Carrie Baxter, Cór na nÓg Caisleán, Jig and Swig and the London Bodhrán Band, The Wran, Nell Mescal, Huartan, David Keenan and Robert Arkins ‘Commitments’. There’s also a tent hosting comedy, spoken word, music, and Irish film and TV shorts, an exhibition, Irish language lessons, children’s arts and crafts, and the ‘Oldbog Cottage’ experience. Meanwhile, celebrity chef Anna Haugh and The Wee Sister restaurant will be serving Irish dishes while the square will also host a range of stalls offering food, crafts and other Irish delights. For more, see london.gov.uk/events/st-patricks- festival-2026

Oil on canvas, 268 x 244.5 cm, ‘Scrub, a bay horse belonging to the Marquess of Rockingham’, George Stubbs, about 1762

• George Stubbs’ (1724-1806) monumental portrait of a rearing horse is at the centre of an exhibition which opened at The National Gallery this week. Alongside Scrub, a bay horse belonging to the Marquess of Rockingham (c1762), Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse also features other paintings and works on paper by the artist and visitors can compare the large-scale equine portrait with another of Stubbs’ masterpieces, Whistlejacket (c1762), which is on display nearby in Room 34. The exhibition can be seen in Room 1 until 31st May. Admission is free. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/.

• People are invited to visit the Banqueting House in Whitehall for a “sneak preview” following a major project to upgrade visitor facilities ahead of its formal reopening this summer. The 400-year-old building boasts a new passenger lift offering step-free access to the main hall, home, of Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece ceiling, for the first time while a new heating system has been installed along with a new sustainably sourced English Oak floor. The sneak previews will take place on 20th March, 3rd April, 1st May, 29th May and 26th June ahead of its reopening on 1st August. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-house/.

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This Week in London – Jock McFadyen’s large-scale Tube paintings revisited; Rose Wylie at the RA; new galleon arrives at Kensington Gardens; and, IWM Duxford’s new rooms…

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• Jock McFadyen’s large-scale Tube paintings have come together in a new exhibition opening at the Guildhall Art Gallery on Friday. Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) revisits McFadyen’s Underground series from the late 1990s and also features a layered soundscape by The Pogues’ Jem Finer which were composed from field recordings on the Northern and Central lines. Admission is by Pay What You Can. Runs until 20th September, 2026. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/events/underground-and-surface-exhibition.

Rose Wylie, ‘Study for Red Twink’ (2002) Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 31 × 42.5 cm (overall) Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner © Rose Wylie. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner. Photo: Jack Hems

• The largest survey to date of celebrated British artist and Royal Academician Rose Wylie opens at the Royal Academy on Saturday. Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First features more than 90 works, including Wylie’s most iconic, alongside new paintings and drawings. Works on show include those depicting memories of
family life and bombing raids in London during World War II such as Wing Tips and Blue Doodlebugs (2022/23), Room Project (2002-3) – Wylie’s first major series to receive significant critical acclaim, works on paper such as Bottom Teeth, Self-Portrait (2016), and works from the series Film Notes. It concludes with four large monochromatic paintings of animals in ginger, black, blue and red made directly by the artist onto the canvas using her hands. Runs in the Main Galleries until 19th April. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/rose-wylie.

• A life-sized wooden galleon has arrived in Kensington Gardens where it will become the centrepiece of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground when it reopens this summer. The ship has been manufactured in Frasdorf, Germany, and is predominately made from mountain larch wood drawn from sustainably managed forests in the Bavarian Alps. It’s part of a £3 million renewal of the free-to-enter playground, which is inspired by the adventures of Peter Pan. For more, see www.royalparks.org.uk/visit/parks/kensington-gardens/diana-memorial-playground.

• Further Afield – Historic Duxford: Air Crew Room, Pilot’s Briefing Room and Pilots Locker Room. Three newly transformed historic rooms opened at IWM Duxford just south of Cambridge late last year, each of which contains newly acquired objects and interactive elements. The air crew room, located beside the Battle of Britain Hangar, tells the stories of the US 8th Air Force and RAF Bomber Command through personal objects belonging to former pilots and crew. They include false identity papers and the diary of American fighter pilot Lonnie Moseley of Duxford’s 78th Fighter Group who was forced to bail out of his P-47 Thunderbolt over France in 1944 and took shelter with a local French farmer’s family until returning to England. Nearby in the pilot’s briefing room, meanwhile, visitors can enjoy an audio-visual recreation of a real-life briefing given on D-Day in which they can sit among their ‘fellow pilots’. And in the pilot’s locker room, the everyday life of pilots who were stationed at Duxford in 1940 is explored including with interactive elements such as the opportunity to try on replica uniforms and see lockers containing recreated details of some of the pilots such as a conversation between 19 Squadron’s George ‘Grumpy’ Unwin and 302 (Polish) Squadron’s Julian Kowalski. The rooms can be visited with standard admission. For more, see www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford.

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This Week in London – Lunar New Year celebrations; Aardman at the Young V&A; and, the women in Dickens’ life…

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PICTURE: Sandra Tan/Unsplash

• Lunar New Year festivities will be held in Chinatown in central London this weekend including lion dances and the Chinese New Year Parade. Lion dances will be held throughout Chinatown on Saturday and Sunday while the parade kicks off at 10am on Sunday just east of Trafalgar Square reaching the square at 12 where an afternoon of festivities will be held. For more, see www.london.gov.uk/events/lunar-new-year-festival-spring-2026. Meanwhile, Lunar New Year celebrations will also be held in Greenwich on Saturday. The celebrations include lion dances, musical and dance performances, a martial arts demonstration, workshops including one on Tibetan dance and another on lantern making and the chance to sample Asian food. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk/lunarnewyear.

• A new exhibition at the Young V&A in Bethnal Green takes a look behind the scenes of stop-motion classics such as Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run and Shaun the Sheep. Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends, created primarily for children and families and marking Aardman’s 50th annversary, features some 150 objects including never-seen-before models, sets and storyboards from Aardman’s archives as well as interactive activities ranging from designing characters and experimenting with lighting through to creating live action videos. Among the items on show are early sketches of Wallace & Gromit, a hand-drawn storyboard from The Wrong Trousers (1993) train chase, Wallace & Gromit’s motorbike and sidecar from Vengeance Most Fowl (2024), and the airship model from The Pirates! (2012). Admission charge applies. Runs until 15th November. For more, see vam.ac.uk/young.

• The women who influenced Charles Dickens are at the centre of a new exhibition at the Charles Dickens Museum. Extra/Ordinary Women features a portrait of Dickens’ daughters, Katey and Mamie, on display for the first time, Catherine Dickens’s cookbook, and a draft preface to an 1857 manual for educating working class children written by penned by Angela Burdett Coutts and including edits by Dickens in blue ink as well as items owned by Ellen Ternan, best known for her 12-year extra-marital relationship with Dickens. Admission charge applies. Runs until 6th September. For more, see https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-events/extra-ordinary-women.

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This Week in London – Lucian Freud’s etching plates and prints; The Jolly Postman at the Postal Museum; and, Beano at the Tower…

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• Newly acquired etching plates and prints of Lucian Freud’s go on display for the first time in a new exhibition at The National Portrait Gallery. Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting, the UK’s first museum exhibition to focus on the artist’s works on paper, features rarely-seen drawings and preparatory studies alongside iconic paintings and is said to offer “unprecedented insight” into Freud’s creative process and working methods. The display features some 170 drawings, etchings and paintings and includes a look at the childhood drawings, sketchbooks, letters and unfinished paintings as well as a number of drawings and etchings that have a relationship with specific paintings. Runs until 4th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.npg.org.uk.

• An interactive exhibition celebrating 40 years of the much-loved children’s book The Jolly Postman opens at the Postal Museum on Saturday. Visitors are invited to follow Janet and Allan Ahlberg character on his postal rounds, from the Three Bears’ cottage, to Cinderella at the palace, and the Wicked Witch’s gingerbread bungalow with magical surprises at every stop and a treasure trove of original artwork, much of which is on display for the first time. The display shows how the Ahlbergs drew inspiration from the everyday magic of the post arriving through the letterbox to create their classic book. Admission charge applies (includes a ride on Mail Rail, and access to all the museum’s exhibitions, including The Jolly Postman for one year after the date of first visit). Runs until January 2027. For more, see www.postalmuseum.org/event/the-jolly-postman/.

• Beano arrives at the Tower of London for the February half-term with a twisting outdoor trail. With pieces of the Beano crews’ go-cart scattered across history, visitors are charged with helping track them down, repair the tangled timeline and transport Dennis and his pals back to Beanotown. Beano Mischief at the Tower of London runs from 14th until 22nd February. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/beano-mischief-at-the-tower-of-london/.

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This Week in London – ‘Samurai’ at the British Museum; V&A East’s first exhibition; and, Jane Austen and the Royal Navy…

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Domenico Tintoretto, Portrait of Itō Mancio, Oil on canvas, Italy (1585), Property of Fondazione Trivulzio, Milan

• The evolution of the samurai over the past 1,000 years is the subject of a new exhibition at The British Museum. Samurai brings together around 280 objects and digital media as it explores the role of samurai as warrior as well as the later roles they fulfilled, during a prolonged peace after 1615, as government officials, scholars and patrons of the arts with women making up half of the samurai class. On display will be a suit of samurai armour, complete with helmet and golden standard, which was recently acquired by the museum as well as a vermillion red woman’s firefighting jacket, a rare portrait of Itō Mancio, a 13-year-old samurai who led an embassy to the Vatican in 1582, by Domenico Tintoretto (pictured), and a portrait of Henry, Count of Bourbon, which portrays him as a samurai warrior and which was commissioned by him while visiting Japan in 1889. The exhibition, which opens on 3rd February, runs until 4th May in The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/samurai.

• Tickets are now on sale for the V&E East Museum’s first exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story. The multi-sensory exhibition features more than 200 objects ranging from musical instruments to soundtracks,
artworks, fashion, and personal belongings of world-famed artists including Winifred Atwell’s piano, the Nintendo Jme used for early music experiments, fashion worn by Little Simz, Seal, Dame Shirley Bassey and Skin and newly acquired photographs of Kemistry and Storm, Mis-Teeq, and Skepta. The exhibition opens on 18th April. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/the-music-is-black-a-british-story

An etching print of the Canopus signed by artist Richard Henry Nibbs (c1849). PICTURE: ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

• On Now: Jane Austen and the Royal Navy. This display at the National Maritime Museum marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and features manuscripts relating to her youngest brothers Francis and Charles Austen, both of whom had naval careers, and explores Jane’s connections to the Royal Navy and the influence her brothers had in her works. Francis – known as Frank (born in 1774) – entered the Royal Navy at the age of 12 and rose through the ranks to eventually captain the HMS Canopus during the Napoleonic Wars while Charles (born in 1779) also entered the Navy at age 12, was on board the Endymion when it captured the French ship Le Scipio, was captain of the Phoenix when it was wrecked at sea and ended his career as commander-in-chief of the East Indies and China Station. The display in the Caird Library can be seen until March. Admission is free. For more, see www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum.

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This Week in London – Art deco at the London Transport Museum; art storage during WWII commemorated; and, William Dobson’s self-portrait…

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• An exhibition exploring the influence of the art deco movement on graphic poster design in on now at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. Art deco: the golden age of poster design features more than a hundred original 1920s and 1930s transport posters and poster artworks alongside photography, short films, ceramics and other objects to mark the centenary of the 1925 Paris exhibition where art deco originated. In the UK, Frank Pick, then-chief executive of London Transport, was the individual most responsible for advancing this form of graphic style, master-minding the publicity for the Underground and LT from 1908 onwards. A number of the posters in the exhibition in the Global Poster Gallery have never been put on public display before. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/art-deco.

Jeremy Deller, designed and carved by John Neilson ‘Manod Slate Tablet’, 2025 © Jeremy Deller / John Neilson
Photo: The National Gallery, London

• An inscribed stone tablet commemorating the Welsh quarry where The National Gallery’s art was protected during World War II has been put on permanent display in the gallery. The tablet, made from slate taken from the Manod quarry in Eryri (Snowdonia), was conceived by the artist Jeremy Deller and designed and carved by letter-carver John Neilson. The work, which was commissioned by Mostyn, an art gallery in Llandudno and supported by CELF – the national contemporary art gallery for Wales, can be seen in the Portico Vestibule, close to Boris Anrep’s floor mosaic of Sir Winston Churchill depicted in war time. The Manod slate mine in north Wales was chosen to store the art after an earlier proposal to evacuate the works to Canada was vetoed over fears of U-boat attacks. At the mine, explosives were used to enlarge the entrance to allow access for the the largest paintings and several small brick ‘bungalows’ were built within the caverns to protect the paintings from variations in humidity and temperature. What was known as an ‘elephant’ case was constructed to transport the paintings on trucks from London and, by the summer of 1941, the entire collection had moved to its new subterranean home, where it was to remain for four years, returning to London only after the end of the war in 1945. For more see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/.

William Dobson, ‘Self-Portrait’, c1635-40. Image courtesy of Tate and the National Portrait Gallery

• A self-portrait by William Dobson, widely considered to be the first great painter born in Britain, has gone on display at Tate Britain alongside a Dobson’s portrait of his wife. Dobson’s painting, which was acquired by the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery, was made between 1635 and 1640 and is said to be a “groundbreaking example of English self-portraiture”. His Portrait of the Artist’s Wife (c1635-40), which joined Tate’s collection in 1992, depicts Dobson’s second wife Judith and would have been conceived around the time of their marriage in December, 1637. Dobson rose to the role of King Charles I’s official painter before his career was cut tragically short when he died at the age of 35. For more, see tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain.

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This Week in London – Trafalgar Square Christmas tree to light up; new location for returning Sir John Tenniel plaque; and, Chinese crafts at the V&A…

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• The lights will be turned on the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree tonight. This year marks the 78th anniversary of the gift of the first Christmas tree to the people of London from the Norwegian city of Oslo in acknowledgement of the support Britain gave to Norway during World War II. The festivities will include the choir of St-Martin-in-the-Fields singing some well known Christmas carols to music led by the Regent Hall Band of the Salvation Army, the reading of a poem written by children who live in Westminster, a display by The Corps of Drums from the Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood and a performance by Det Norske Jentekor, The Norwegian Girls’ Choir, conducted by Anne Karin Sundal-Ask. Festivities start at 5pm and the lights switch on at 6pm. The tree will be in the square until 5th January after which it will be recycled. You can follow the tree on Instagram at  @TrafalgarTree, on TikTok at @TrafalgarTree, and on X at @TrafalgarTree.

• A Blue Plaque commemorating Alice in Wonderland illustrator and political cartoonist Sir John Tenniel has been returned to London’s streets – but to a different location than that where it was first positioned. The plaque, which is actually jade-green and white, was originally unveiled by the London County Council in 1930 at Tenniel’s longtime Maida Vale home (the colour was due to the request of the house-holder). But following its removal when the house was demolished in 1959, the plaque was so damaged that its destruction was authorised. But this wasn’t carried out and the plaque, which features an early “wreathed” design, has been in storage since. Following restoration, however, it has now been relocated to a new home – a property at 52 Fitz-George Avenue in West Kensington where Tenniel spent the final years of his life.

Figure from the ‘Century Doll’ series, glazed porcelain, by Yao Yongkang, 2004, Jingdezhen, China

• The first major UK exhibition exploring contemporary studio crafts in China is on now at the V&A South Kensington. Dimensions: Contemporary Chinese Studio Crafts features more than 80 objects including almost 50 new acquisitions and puts a spotlight on “contemporary and modern makers who build upon longstanding tradition to reinvent ancient practices, pioneer alternative techniques, and develop new channels for self-expression”. Many of the objects – displayed in the China and Ceramics galleries – sit in dialogue alongside permanent displays of historic Chinese craftsmanship. Highlights include large scale works such as Lin Fanglu’s She’s Bestowed Love (2025), that transforms intricate tie-dye practices into a monumental textile sculpture, more delicate pieces such as Zhang Huimin’s Golden Mammary 4 (2025), a brooch produced by pushing the boundary of filigree in a reinvention of traditional practice, a wall hanging by pioneering artist of studio pottery Tan Chang, as well as works by the three potters who were the first to be exhibited in China under the mantle of ‘modern ceramics’: Mei Wending, Zeng Li and Zeng Peng. Runs until 27th September next year. Free admission. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/dimensions-contemporary-chinese-studio-crafts.

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This Week in London – Christmas at Hampton Court; Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid; and, Romani art, culture and heritage…

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PICTURE: paulafrench/iStockphoto

• Christmas has come to Hampton Court Palace with the one-time home of King Henry VIII decorated with traditional decorations and hosting a range of Christmas-related activities. Musicians located throughout the palace are playing a mixture of classical tunes and familiar Christmas melodies while in the Wine Cellar “intriguing history” of Christmas is being brought to life in story-telling sessions. The culinary Christmas traditions of the Tudors, meanwhile, are on display in the historic kitchens with, between 20th December and 4th January, the Historic Kitchens team recreating recipes from the Tudor court. The Magic Garden is hosting a special playful outdoor adventure for younger ones between 17th December and 4th January. The Hampton Court Palace Ice Rink has also returned (until 4th January) and there’s a Christmas market being held in the Great Fountain Garden on 5th to 7th December and again on 12th to 14th December. The Festive Fayre will feature more than 100 independent exhibitors offering artisan food and drink, unique gifts and stocking fillers while there will be live music on the East Front bandstand and horse and cart rides in the grounds. Admission charge applies. For more on Christmas activties at the palace head to www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/christmas-festivities/.

• Caravaggio’s Victorious Cupid – never-before seen in public in the UK – is at the centre of a new exhibition which has opened at the Wallace Collection. The sculpture is presented with two Roman sculptures that along with the Caravaggio were all once part of the portfolio of Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani (1564–1637), one of the most celebrated collectors of his day. The life-sized Cupid was once displayed along with works by the likes of Raphael, Titian and Giorgione in his grand palazzo located near the Pantheon in Rome along with an extensive gallery of classical sculpture. Caravaggio’s Cupid, which is free to enter, can be seen in the Exhibition Galleries until 12th April. For more, see www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions-displays/caravaggios-cupid/.

• A new display honouring the livelihoods, creativity and craft of Romani communities and their contribution to British society has opened at the London Museum Docklands. By Appointment Only: Romani art, culture and heritage centres on three works, Sugar Coated (2025) by Corrina Eastwood, Tap Your Heels Together Three Times (2025) by Delaine Le Bas and What Makes a Home? (2025) by Dan Turner. There’s also timeline by John-Henry Phillips which illustrates the history of Romani communities from 500-1000 up to 2022. This is displayed along with the Historic England film Searching for Romani Gypsy Heritage with John Henry Phillips (2024) and an oral history piece both of which contextualise the timeline. The exhibition in the Reflections Room is free. For more, see www.londonmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/by-appointment-only/.

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This Week in London – Wes Anderson’s archive explored; Edwin Austin Abbey at The National Gallery; and, Christmas at the Tower…

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• The first retrospective of the work of film-maker Wes Anderson has opened at the Design Museum in South Kensington. Wes Anderson: The Archives draws on the director’s own archives to chart the evolution of his films from early experiments in the 1990s and collaborations to an exploration of the design stories behind films such as The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs. The display features more than 700 objects including original storyboards, polaroids, sketches, paintings, handwritten notebooks, puppets, miniature models and costumes. Highlights include a candy-pink model of the Grand Budapest Hotel, vending machines from Asteroid City, a FENDI fur coat worn by Gwyneth Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums, stop motion puppets used to depict the fantastical sea creatures in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Mr Fox wearing his signature corduroy suit and show dog Nutmeg alongside miniature sets. There’s also a screening of Bottle Rocket, Anderson’s first short film, created in 1993. Runs until 26th July. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/wes-anderson-the-archives.

Edwin Austin Abbey, ‘Study for The Hours in the Pennsylvania State Capitol’ (about 1909–11), oil on canvas, 381 × 381 cm Yale University Art Gallery, Edwin Austin Abbey Memorial Collection. PICTURE: Courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery

• A design for the ceiling of the House of Representatives in the Pennsylvania State Capitol in the US has gone on show at The National Gallery as part of a new exhibition dedicated to its creator Edwin Austin Abbey (1852-1911). The 12-feet diameter half-scale design for The Hours, newly conserved by the Yale University Art Gallery, depicts 24 female figures representing the 24 hours of the day. The display, Edwin Austin Abbey: By the Dawn’s Early Light, also features six preparatory drawings for his work, The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania, a vast wall mural featuring representations of 16th and 17th century English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh and American frontiersman Daniel Boone behind the Speaker’s dais. Abbey, who lived and worked in the UK, displayed the first of his Harrisburg murals at the University of London in 1908 prior to shipping them to the US – guests included King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria. The free display can be seen in the HJ Hyams Room (Room 1) until 15th February. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/edwin-austin-abbey-by-the-dawn-s-early-light

• The Tower of London is being transformed into a “magical storybook world” to mark Christmas this year. A Storybook Christmas at the Tower of London features royal romances, legendary figures and treasured traditions which include animals who once lived in the Tower’s royal menagerie, the famous tower ravens, the chance to step onto a regal throne for a family portrait and find storybook backdrops among Christmas trees and wreaths, and an opportunity to explore the story of the Tower’s Royal Observatory where the first Royal Astronomer was appointed in 1675. The “storybook Christmas” opens on Sunday and runs until 4th January. Included in general admission. For more, see www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/.

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This Week in London – The first Lady Mayor’s Show; Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ at the National Portrait Gallery; and, Audrey Hepburn’s Blue Plaque…

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The State Coach at the Royal Courts of Justice in the 2013 Lord Mayor’s Show. PICTURE: S Pinter/iStockphoto.

• The Lord Mayor’s Show – or this year, for the first time in its 800 year history, the Lady Mayor’s Show – takes place on Saturday as Dame Susan Langley is celebrated as the City of London’s 697th Lord Mayor of London. Langley, who takes office at Guildhall on Friday in the ancient ‘Silent Ceremony’, is the third woman to hold the role and the first to adopt the title “Lady Mayor”. The more than three mile-long procession, which kicks off at 11am, features around 7,000 participants, 200 horses and more than 50 decorated floats and travels from the Mansion House, the official mayoral residence, through the City to the Royal Courts of Justice, via St Paul’s Cathedral, before returning. The centrepiece as always is the State Coach carrying the Lady Mayor as she fulfills the dual purpose of showing herself to residents and swearing allegiance to the crown. For more – including details of the procession’s route, head to https://lordmayorsshow.london/.

• The first exhibition dedicated to the work of 18th century artist Joseph Wright ‘of Derby’ opens at The National Gallery tomorrow. Wright of Derby: From the Shadows focuses on his career between 1765 and 1773 when he created his candlelight series. On show are a number of works from this series including Three Persons Viewing the Gladiator by Candlelight (1765), A Philosopher giving that Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun (1766), and the gallery’s own An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768). Mezzotint prints of Wright’s works – key to the establishment of his international reputation – will also be on display. The exhibition, in the Sunley Room, runs until 10th May. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/wright-of-derby-from-the-shadows.

• Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn has been honoured with an English Heritage Blue Plaque on her former home in Mayfair. The plaque at 65 South Audley Street was where Hepburn lived in a flat with her mother between 1949 to 1954 as she launched her career as an actor. It was from here that she travelled to the West End to perform in chorus lines, appeared in British films such as 1951’s The Lavender Hill Mob and while living here that she was cast as the lead in Gigi on Broadway – a key stepping stone towards her breakthrough performance in 1953’s Roman Holiday. Hepburn was born in Brussels but had strong ties to London, training at the Ballet Rambert and working as a dancer and model before moving on to acting. Of course, as well as Roman Holiday, Hepburn performed notable roles Sabrina, Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair Lady, and Charade. She later dedicated herself to humanitarian work, serving as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom shortly before her death in 1993. For more on English Heritage Blue Plaques, see www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/.

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This Week in London – The story of Henry VIII’s lost dagger; ‘Secret Maps’ at the British Library; and, ‘Connection and Identity’ at Greenwich…

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Strawberry Hill House. PICTURE: claudiodivizia/iStockphoto

• The disappearance of a jewelled Ottoman dagger which is believed to have once belonged to King Henry VIII has inspired a new exhibition at Strawberry Hill House, Horace Walpole’s former home in Twickenham in London’s west. Henry VIII’s Lost Dagger: From the Tudor Court to the Victorian Stage looks at the history of the 16th century dagger which, said to have been richly decorated with “a profusion of rubies and diamonds”, was once part of Horace Walpole’s collection. When the collection was sold in 1842, the dagger passed into ownership of the Shakespearean actor Charles John Kean who directed private theatricals for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. Kean (1811-1868) pioneered what critics dubbed “living museums” on the Victorian stage by using real artifacts, including the dagger, during performances. But after Kean’s death the dagger vanished without a trace. Dr Silvia Davoli, the principal curator at Strawberry Hill House, launched an investigation to find the dagger and instead found six almost identical daggers scattered around the globe. Two of these daggers – known as the Vienna and Welbeck Abbey examples – are featured in the exhibition alongside reproductions of 18th century materials which related to Walpole’s lost dagger from Yale University’s Lewis Walpole Library. The exhibition can be seen from Saturday until 16th February. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk.

• The role maps have played in preserving secrets for the benefit of their creators from the 14th century to the present day is the subject of a new exhibition at the British Library. Secret Maps features more than 100 items ranging from hand-drawn naval charts given to Henry VIII to maps of cable networks used to intercept messages between the world wars; and the satellite tracking technology used by apps today. Among highlights are a map from 1596 attributed to Sir Walter Raleigh on an expedition in search of the mythical city of El Dorado in what is now Guyana in South America; a map produced in 1946 of British India (modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) with a ‘top secret’ report investigating the potential economic and military impact of partition for the proposed state of Pakistan; one of only two known existing copies of a secret map produced by Ordnance Survey during the General Strike of 1926 amid fears of a public uprising; and a 1927 Cable Map of the world which reveals a global network of censorship stations and was used by the British government to intercept messages sent via submarine and overland cables. Runs until 18th January (and accompanied by a programme of events). Admission charge applies. For more, see https://events.bl.uk/exhibitions/secretmaps.

• Staffordshire-based artist Peter Walker’s large scale interactive artworks, Connection and Identity, can be seen in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich from Friday. Identity features eight columns suspended within the hall which shift in colour and light while Connection showcases “a dramatic and modern reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam“. The installation, which is located in the hall sometimes described as “Britain’s Sistine Chapel”, is accompanied by music specially composed by David Harper. Runs until 25th January. Admission charge applies. For more, see https://ornc.org/whats-on/connection-and-identity/.

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