Samuel Reilly is a freelance writer in Edinburgh and a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews.

Rubens

Auction highlights – is there life in the Old Masters yet?

New York’s January sales boast an impressive line-up, including a gruesome painting by Rubens and a lost portrait by Bronzino

16 Dec 2022
Venus and Adonis (detail; 1555–57), Titian and workshop. Sotheby's London (est. £8m–£12m)

Auction highlights – what makes a Titian a Titian?

London’s Old Master sales this month include a version of a great ‘poesie’ painting – though questions have been raised about its attribution

2 Dec 2022
Trestle-leg table (17th century), China. Christie's Hong Kong ($1m–$1.5m)

Auction highlights – what Hong Kong is bringing to the table this month

As New York takes stock of a whirlwind season, attention turns to marquee sales in Asia

18 Nov 2022
Armcuff Digital Benin

Digital Benin opens a new chapter in the restitution saga

The project that launched this week is not the first to attempt cataloguing the Benin Bronzes, but it’s by far the most comprehensive

11 Nov 2022

Auction highlights – Christie’s first billion-dollar sale

The collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is set to be the first to break the $1bn barrier next week – though it is unlikely to be the last

4 Nov 2022
Tadesse Mesfin, photographed in his studio in Addis Ababa in February 2022

Tadesse Mesfin’s beaming visions of Ethiopia are pure joy

The pioneer of Ethiopian modernism tells Apollo about his years in the USSR and his depictions of brightly-dressed women at market

3 Nov 2022
Tiger, Edo Period (1600–1700), Japan. Jorge Welsh Works of Art at Asian Art in London

Around the galleries – Asian Art in London, plus other highlights

This bumper edition of the annual event continues to demonstrate the capital’s strength in this field

24 Oct 2022
De como não foi ministro d’estado (film still; 2012), William Kentridge.

The instant appeal of William Kentridge’s slow art

A journey through four decades of the South African artist’s works reveals the steady evolution of his talent

24 Oct 2022
Young Lady in a Loge Gazing to the Right Mary Cassatt

Auction highlights – Mary Cassatt gives a star turn in New York

A magnificent portrait by the Impressionist leads the pack in the sale of Ann and Gordon Getty’s collection at Christie’s this week

20 Oct 2022
William Kentridge

Frieze week highlights: petrol-can pastiches and chopped-up Shostakovich

Romuald Hazoumè’s latest ‘masques bidons’ focus on global figures whose ‘masks’ were stripped off by the revelations of the Panama and Pandora Papers – plus more shows not to miss this year

11 Oct 2022
The Salon de Curiosités at the Hôtel Lambert. Photo: courtesy Sotheby’s

Auction highlights – an Al Thani treasure trove comes up for sale in Paris

The first of Apollo’s new, fortnightly auction previews looks at Sotheby’s sale of objects from one of Paris’s most colourful private mansions

7 Oct 2022
The Grand Palais Éphèmere, Paris. Photo: Aliki Christoforou; courtesy Art Basel

Around the galleries – Art Basel lands in Paris, plus other highlights

With its first excursion to the French capital, Art Basel has stolen FIAC’s slot in the autumn calendar, and perhaps its thunder

26 Sep 2022
Sutima Sucharitakul

The Apollo 40 Under 40 Asia Pacific in focus: Sutima Sucharitakul

The founder of Nova Contemporary, one of Bangkok’s leading art galleries, discusses her mission to bring Thai artists international acclaim

22 Sep 2022
The Feast of Absalom (late 1640s), Niccolò Tornioli. Robilant+Voena

Around the galleries – the ‘grand exhibition of Italian art’ returns to Florence

The Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato di Firenze remains rooted in tradition – but it welcomes some modern sensibilities this year, too

30 Aug 2022
A young lady playing the tambourine, possibly Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moses (detail; first quarter of the 17th century), Pseudo-Caroselli. Agnews, London

Around the galleries – London Art Week takes a musical turn, plus other highlights

The dealers of Mayfair and St James’s have banded together with the Philharmonia Orchestra for a special series of concerts this year

21 Jun 2022
Barn scene with a man courting a young woman and several figures (detail; 1681), David Teniers II.

Around the galleries – BRAFA lights up Brussels, plus other highlights

Despite its position in this summer’s packed calendar, the Belgian art fair is confident in its unique offering

30 May 2022

‘An elegy to a disappearing planet’ – Katie Paterson in Edinburgh, reviewed

Over the course of an almost a decade, the Scottish artist has gathered and crushed ancient geological specimens to create a work of real conceptual power

5 May 2022
Once Upon A Who (detail of a film still; 2021), Simon Fujiwara.

Around the galleries – Frieze hits New York, plus other highlights

A more local, intimate Frieze returns to the Shed – and Apollo picks out four of the best shows at London Gallery Weekend

28 Apr 2022
Vertumne et Pomone 1620 Abraham Govaerts

Around the galleries – a tour of Geneva’s Old Town, plus other highlights

The convivial event offers visitors the chance to roam the medieval streets of the Swiss capital in search of art ancient and modern

5 Apr 2022
Four stained-glass panels from a group of eight depicting scenes from the life of John the Baptist, made in Rouen in c. 1510 and installed in the south wall of the Burrell Collection, Glasgow.

Will the new Burrell Collection give Glasgow global reach?

After six years of work, the city’s most singular museum is reopening. But while it is once again filled with wonders, there are also questions to be answered

23 Mar 2022
Now of Now (installation view; 2020), Ines Zenha. Double V Gallery at ARCO Madrid

ARCO Madrid makes the most of having the stage to itself

While most art fairs have been postponed, the Spanish stalwart is celebrating its 40th birthday in style

22 Feb 2022
The Lady and the Unicorn: À mon seul désir (c. 1500). Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris

The museum openings not to miss in 2022

The new-look Musée de Cluny and the Burrell Collection reopen, while there are also treats in store for fans of Bob Dylan and Serge Gainsbourg

3 Jan 2022
William Wilson (detail; c. 1909), Alberto Martini.

Winter is here – but so is London Art Week

The galleries of Mayfair and St James’s are full of surprises and delights that should brighten up December

29 Nov 2021
The Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite (n.d.), Frans Francken The Younger. De Jonckheere.

Fine Arts Paris remains an intimate affair

The fair is determined to keep growing, but not at the expense of the boutique atmosphere that sets it apart

3 Nov 2021