Maev Kennedy

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Newly conserved star atlas, a masterpiece of 17th-century Dutch art, to go on display for first time

The Harmonia Macrocosmica by Andreas Cellarius, one of the most precious volumes in the Blickling Estate's library, was too fragile to be exhibited

Bobbly lines and an unfinished doodle: super-high-res scans may show William Blake's first-ever engravings

New research argues that works discovered on the rear of 18th century copperplates can be attributed to a teenaged Blake

'One of the most exciting unknown stories from the Napoleonic Wars': British escapee's military disguise goes on display in London

Midshipman Charles Hare's account of his escape from a French prison, alongside the outfit he fled in, can be seen from today at the National Maritime Museum

Restoration begins on rare Ludovico Mazzolino painting at the National Gallery of Ireland

The Italian Renaissance master’s few remaining large paintings are a conservation headache, but the museum hopes to show its Crossing of the Red Sea for the first time next year

‘A driving force’: show at London’s Freud Museum to celebrate the women central to psychoanalyst’s world

The exhibition opening in October will bring together works by artists including Paula Rego, Cornelia Parker, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas

‘Once in a generation chance’: Hampton Court conservation grants visitors closer look at Chapel Royal

Works by Sir Christopher Wren and Sir James Thornhill can be observed from the chapel's Royal Pew until September

‘It destroys the image Dickens tried to create’: unpublished letters give voice to writer’s beleaguered wife

Meanwhile, a screen that Charles Dickens decorated with the actor William Macready has returned to its historic home in Dorset, UK

Appeal to save Brighton Pavilion dome after ‘devastating’ damage discovery

Brighton and Hove Museums hopes to raise at least £10,000 to conserve the Grade I listed building

The ship that broke Wordsworth’s heart: UK government grants protection to wreck with connections to poet

The remains of the Earl of Abergavenny, once captained by the Wordsworth’s brother John, will be made safe from treasure hunters

Ahoy there! Beautifully conserved, real-life pirate flag to lead London exhibition

Myths and legends walk the plank as the National Maritime Museum tells true stories of 'horrible' seafarers

Lost self-portrait by UK painter Norman Cornish discovered behind bar scene

The undated work, which was during conservation work, is going on display in an exhibition at the Bowes Museum in County Durham

From a fox to a silky chicken: centuries-old paper cuttings discovered under floorboards of National Trust house

The objects are believed to have been made by students in the 17th century, when Sutton House was a school

Booksreview

Take a romp through Ancient Rome’s great buildings with this handy (almost) pocket-sized book

Ostensibly a guide to the city's top 50 sites, a new publication by Paul Roberts offers far more

‘We are not seeing the picture Rubens intended’: conservation reveals drastic changes made to acclaimed Judgement of Paris

More than a year of meticulous research and work has led to the painting being glowingly restored—while revealing amendments by an unknown artist that “changed the narrative completely”

Saved by a pub entrepreneur, Sherborne House reopens as an arts centre

The comprehensive renovation includes a new restaurant, an events pavilion and the restoration of a James Thornhill mural

Getting plastered: major conservation work begins on an extraordinary ceiling in Cornwall

Visitors have the unique chance to see the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the Long Gallery at Lanhydrock up close thanks to a scaffolding platform

Smoke, fire and livid sunsets: exhibition to show how Turner traced beginnings of climate breakdown

Works on view at the artist’s house in London will reveal the way he captured the early impact of the industrial revolution on the British landscape

Mavisbank House: abandoned Scottish 18th-century mansion to be rescued at last

The the house near Edinburgh is considered one of Britain’s most important buildings—but also its most derelict

Portrait of Charles I's children revealed to be by inventor of tri-colour printing

The print by Jacob Christoph le Blon, which hung under a staircase of a Norfolk mansion, was thought to be a copy of a work by Anthony Van Dyck

Flat decorated with minotaurs and lion heads becomes first Outsider Art work to gain listed status in England

Known as Ron's Place, the property in the Merseyside town of Birkenhead was the home of Ron Gittins, who died in 2019

A major squawk-ing point: Māori parrot-feather cloak set to be star exhibit at Perth Museum

Following painstaking conservation, the delicate piece will go on show at the Scottish museum in its newly opened building, a £27m conversion of the Edwardian former city hall

The best of the Flemish Masters come together in Ashmolean exhibition

Around 120 drawings will be on show at the Oxford museum for a limited time

Shiver me timbers: AI speeds up repair of historic British warship HMS Victory

Technology is being used to create an image database of vessel—as acres of wooden planking damaged by time, water and insects are to be replaced

Newly identified William Kent chairs—discovered in a Wiltshire Church—go on show at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge

The two internationally important chairs have been acquired for the reopening of the institution's Founder’s Galleries

Roman funerary bed found in central London

Archaeologists are "blown away" by the levels of preservation of the finds at Holborn Viaduct, which also include five oak coffins, a decorated lamp, a glass vial, and jet and amber beads

Museum of the Home's displays will change to reflect changing times

The 20th-century displays in the London institution’s Rooms Through Time galleries are being overhauled to reflect the diverse communities of Hoxton, the historic core of east London and one of the UK’s most gentrified areas

Trinity College Dublin turns a page on Old Library conservation

A major €90m upgrade of the hallowed Long Room—and its 200,000 books—begins at the end of the year, while its famous Book of Kells gets an immersive makeover

Striking gold: 2022 was a record year for treasure and antiquities finds, with more than 50,000 items reported

From gold coins to ivory carvings, many pieces were found by amateur metal detectorists, according to latest report by British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme

Booksreview

A new book explores the life of a pioneering Irish stained-glass artist through his glorious creations

Michael Healy’s reclusiveness belied his trailblazing role in Ireland's most prestigious studio of its kind

Waddesdon Manor’s elephant swings its trunk once more

Restored to its former glory, the 200kg automaton is now on show at the Buckingham mansion