Apollo's wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories. Got a story for Rakewell? Email rakewell@apollomag.com. Follow @Rakewelltweets.

King Charles sketching

Portrait of the King as a Young Artist

As Charles III’s juvenilia comes to auction, Rakewell’s thoughts turn to other members of the royal family who have displayed artistic tendencies

16 Jun 2023
The Loch Ness Monster

The hunt for the Loch Ness Monster continues

Rakewell isn’t about to quit the city to stake it all on a monster hunt – but there have been some significant sightings in museum collections

9 Jun 2023

The price of nothing and the value of everything

A surprising statement from Nicholas Serota leads Rakewell to reflect on the nature of ‘value’

26 May 2023

How to live like Courtney Love

The grunge goddess seems very comfortable in her celebrity skin these days, if a recent interview is anything to go by

19 May 2023
Actress Olivia de Havilland lying on a bed

The Olivia de Havilland sale deserves to be a soaring success

The actor best known for playing the saintly Melanie Hamilton in ‘Gone with the Wind’ was made of much sterner stuff in real life

12 May 2023

The National Gallery throws its director to the wolves

Guests at the opening of ‘Saint Francis of Assisi’ included two very fetching wolf-dogs. Rakewell regrets not making their acquaintance.

5 May 2023

A surprise pest of honour at the Met Gala

The sensational appearance of a cockroach at this year’s Met Gala leads Rakewell to reflect on other star turns performed by the creepy-crawly

2 May 2023
Freddie Mercury performing at Wembley

I want it all – Freddie Mercury’s collection comes under the hammer

Sotheby’s claims the rockstar was also a fervent art collector but Rakewell can’t help wonder if this is just fantasy?

28 Apr 2023

Live like Kendall Roy, if you have $29m to spare (or like Roman for $38m)

Succession fans with millions to spend can now live like the Roy brother of their choice (as ever, that doesn’t include Connor)

23 Apr 2023

Just Stop Oil’s big break

The climate protestors have copped a lot of flak for taking on the snooker – but at least it makes a change from museums

20 Apr 2023

Welcome to Van Gogh World!

Plans to create a climate-themed biennale in the region of the painter’s birth could be a rollercoaster ride for everyone concerned

9 Apr 2023

The villains have all the best addresses in the new John Wick film

Perhaps Keanu Reeve’s restless hitman should stop settling scores and settle down in the Louvre instead?

31 Mar 2023

The mystery of the Jackson Pollock meant for Lauren Bacall

The Hollywood superstar inspired artists of all kinds – and Rakewell sincerely hopes that Jackson Pollock was among them

24 Mar 2023
John Berger, photographed in 2009. Photo: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

John Berger as you’ve never heard him before

The remarkable revelation of John Berger’s cameo in Grand Theft Auto leads Rakewell to cast around for some other surprising turns by eminent critics

17 Mar 2023

Art for cats? Yes purr-lease!

A new Artangel project has sent Rakewell into raptures – though it’s trickier to decipher what the intended feline audience makes of it all

10 Mar 2023

At last – a work of performance art we can all savour

Sarah Merker has just completed a remarkable ten-year quest to sample the scones at every National Trust tearoom in the country

3 Mar 2023
Thérèse Coffey

The truth about turnips

Following Thérèse Coffey’s suggestion that we should all eat more turnips, Rakewell takes a look at the best depictions of the vegetable throughout art history

24 Feb 2023
Jeff Koons balloon dog

The curious incident of the balloon dog at the art fair

The breaking of a Jeff Koons Balloon Dog sculpture at an art fair in Miami may be less shattering news than it seems

20 Feb 2023
Pharrell Williams

Pharrell is frontin’ Louis Vuitton

Rakewell hopes the fashion house’s newest designer will bring everyone much happiness

17 Feb 2023

So many UK culture ministers, so little time in office

As the 12th secretary of state for culture in the UK takes up their post, Rakewell spots at least one thing they all have in common

12 Feb 2023

Schiaparelli gets the lion’s share of the attention at Paris Fashion Week

Kylie Jenner and Naomi Campbell turned heads with their faux-taxidermy-trimmed outfits – and recalled some more legendary setters of style

27 Jan 2023

Who’s in and who’s out in Soho clubland

Rakewell wonders what to make of the news that Quo Vadis’s doors are moving to the Groucho club

20 Jan 2023

Why is the mayor of Amiens desperately seeking Madonna’s help?

The popstar is believed to own an artwork which has been missing from Amiens since the First World War

17 Jan 2023

A short visual history of heirs and spares

A cursory look at some princely portraits might have encouraged Harry to head for the Californian hills even earlier

13 Jan 2023