The British Museum opened its major exhibition for Autumn 2019. The BP exhibition Troy: myth and reality is the first major Troy exhibition in the UK. It reveals the lasting legacy of stories from the Trojan War, first told by early poets such Homer and Virgil and retold and reinterpreted right up to the present day. The show highlights works of art inspired by the tales of war, love and loss that are wrapped up in the Trojan cycle of myths and passed down through generations. Following in the footsteps of the archaeologists and adventurers who sought to prove the reality of ancient Troy, this exhibition showcases the discoveries made by Heinrich Schliemann in Turkey in the 1870s, which changed the perception of this epic tale forever. From the Trojan horse to Troilus and Cressida, and Hollywood films and contemporary art, this exhibition tells the stories of Troy that have fascinated and inspired people for more than 3,000 yea

On 19 November 1819 the new museum opened its doors to the public, at that date still a royal museum and comprising works from the exceptional collections of painting and sculpture assembled by Spain’s monarchs over more than 300 years. While Goya was still living in Madrid, three of his paintings – the two equestrian portraits of Charles IV and María Luisa de Parma and the Horseman with a Pike – were already hanging in the room that led into the Museum’s central gallery. Over the succeeding years the Museum would assemble the finest collection of Goya’s work, comprising around 150 paintings, 500 drawings, all the artist’s print series and a unique body of documentation in the form of his letters to his friend Martín Zapater. This exhibition, which is the result of the remarkable richness of the Museo del Prado’s collections and of the work undertaken to prepare a new catalogue raisonné of Goya&#14

The largest group of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci ever shown in Scotland forms a new exhibition opening today (22 November) at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse. Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing marks the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death and includes 80 of the Renaissance master’s greatest drawings, selected entirely from the unrivalled holdings of the Royal Collection. In the breadth of his interests, Leonardo da Vinci was the archetypal ‘Renaissance man’, and his work is characterised by a multitude of artistic and scientific pursuits that cross-fertilised each other over many years. The exhibition explores the full range of the artist’s interests, providing a comprehensive survey of Leonardo’s life and a unique insight into the workings of his mind. Leonardo was revered in his day as a painter, but he completed only around 20 pai

Tate Modern presents the first UK retrospective of the work of Dora Maar (1907–97) whose provocative photographs and photomontages became celebrated icons of surrealism. Featuring over 200 works from a career spanning more than six decades, this exhibition shows how Maar’s eye for the unusual also translated to her commercial commissions, social documentary photographs, and paintings – key aspects of her practice which have, until now, remained little known. Born Henriette Théodora Markovitch, Dora Maar grew up between Argentina and Paris and studied decorative arts and painting before switching her focus to photography. In doing so, Maar became part of a generation of women who seized the new professional opportunities offered by advertising and the illustrated press. Tate Modern’s exhibition opens with the most important examples of these commissioned works. Around 1931, Maar set up a studio with film set design