Anna Somers Cocks

What is art for? Why, to help sell arms, silly!

October saw full deployment of culture in Russian and French political and commercial diplomacy with Saudi Arabia

Goulandris collection of Modern masterworks finally revealed in new Athens museum

Dream museum of collectors Basil and Elise Goulandris brought to life almost three decades after original proposal

UK politicsinterview

'A democratic vote swayed by lies is not democracy'—Mary Beard on what antiquity can teach us about political spin

The recipient of the 2019 J. Paul Getty Medal discusses how understanding Cicero can help decipher the rise of populism

From the archive | Jacob Rothschild retires from banking in a flurry of art projects

The Waddesdon Treasury opens at the Buckinghamshire family mansion managed and financed since 1988 by Rothschild—a man who has been an eminence grise of the British art world for the past 30 years

Venice comment

Don’t believe what you read in the papers: Venice won't lose its cruise ships any time soon

A lack of a long-term plan combined with the economic benefits brought by the luxury liners means a cruise ship ban will take long to implement

In search of art out of Africa: an interview with Jean Pigozzi

“I feel that at the time of the Medici they had my kind of rapport with their artists”

Venice has no official plan for how to deal with climate change

A new report by Icomos details how the science/culture divide is stopping world heritage coming to the aid of climate change and urges speedy action

Dramatic speech in Baku challenges Unesco’s support for damaging Venice cruise ship decision

The non-governmental organisation Europa Nostra recommends that the World Heritage Committee put the lagoon city on the endangered list

Venice comment

The Turkish shareholders in the port of Venice want to keep cruise ships coming—and the mayor supports them

The World Heritage Committee is meeting in Baku and intends to dodge declaring Venice endangered for the third time

Solid evidence that Venice's Mose mobile flood barriers have serious conservation faults

Repair work on Mose is estimated to take ten years, calling the operational date of 2021 into question

Get the app and the church door will open to you

How often on our walks do we get to an enticing old church, only to find that it’s locked? Mobile phones provide the 'open sesame'

Venice analysis

Where does the cruise ship crash leave Venice?

The mayor demands that liners use other channels to enter the lagoon but this solution also poses problems

Why the Tbilisi art fair should not be afraid of communist-period art

A successful second edition of the fair, with visits to houses and studios, and lots of collateral shows

Carlos Santana dreams of seeing the Mona Lisa naked: now he can

As the so-called “Nude Mona Lisa” goes on display at Chantilly, here’s the Mexican guitarist’s love song

Why I agreed to join the advisory board of the art fair in Georgia (no, not the southern US state)

It has art schools, tradition, a culturally rich catchment area, and a true-grit backer

Obituariescomment

What Jayne Wrightsman did when you criticised her style

Anna Somers Cocks recalls a telling episode in her relations with the Met’s benefactor, who died on 20 April

Britain’s historic house owners pledge ancient trees for Notre Dame rebuilding

The cathedral’s roof, wholly destroyed in the fire, was built of some 1300 great trees

Prizesnews

Caravaggio in the flesh at The Art Newspaper Russia’s annual prize ceremony

Actors, musicians, dancers and a famous Moscow film director, combined with lighting wizardry, celebrate the Russian art world

Grimani antiquities collection comes home to Venice palazzo after four centuries

Cardinal Grimani’s classical Greek and Roman sculptures—given to the Venetian Republic in 1587—will be reassembled in theatrical palace gallery

Unesconews

Goodbye Venice, goodbye Ravenna, goodbye Ferrara, goodbye Carthage?

Many World Heritage Sites around the Mediterranean are at grave risk from sea-level rise by 2100, report says

Londonnews

How the UK has revived its Monuments Men

The CPPU consists of a solitary lieutenant-colonel, but he is recruiting

Art marketcomment

Will the UK be able to take part in antiquities busts after Brexit?

Nineteen of the accused in Operation Demetra face trial in December, while the alleged UK mastermind awaits extradition

Do not penalise Saudi Arabian artists for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi

"There is great fear now within Saudi Arabia, with even stricter self-censorship than before"

Anna Somers Cocks. , additional comment from Stephen Stapleton

Why being a royal artist in the Gulf is a mixed blessing

Rashid Al Khalifa of Bahrain is showing his art in London’s Saatchi Gallery

Top museum directors on the challenges of climate change and mass tourism

Vatican conference on preventive conservation warns of environmental impact of short-term politics

Ivorycomment

The UK’s imminent law against the trade in ivory is a serious threat to liberties, says former Lord Chief Justice

Civilians will be allowed to enter your house, break open containers and use “reasonable force”