Bendor Grosvenor

Bendor Grosvenor is an art historian and broadcaster

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An author’s waking nightmares: Van Dyck dreaming and colour proofs of a shadowy masterwork

Finishing his new book—an exploration of the untold origins of British art—took our diarist into a universe that only an author can inhabit

An open letter to Chris Bryant, the tenth UK arts minister in ten years

Labour’s pre-election arts manifesto, Creating Growth, included policies to put the arts back into education and bring museums into line with universities on open data

Connoisseurship has gone out of fashion—to diversify the canon, it's time for a revival

With the Royal Academy the only UK institution now teaching connoisseurship, too many students of art history are missing out on learning an important skill

Ruins revived: when do overlooked buildings become valued again?

"In England, we still like to talk about the 'dissolution' of the monasteries as if it was a gentle process. Really, it was an annihilation," says Bendor Grosvenor

The Tudor blockbuster: why Holbein still mesmerises 500 years on

"There is evidently something about Holbein that resonates strongly with modern audiences"

'Why destroying art in protest achieves nothing'

Activists’ attacks on artworks do not further their causes—if they did, I would throw the soup myself

Who will rule Rembrandtland? Behind the search for an authority on the Old Master

Following the death of universally acclaimed Rembrandt scholar Ernst van de Wetering, attribution of the artist is in flux

Court of Appeal ruling will prevent UK museums from charging reproduction fees—at last

Those © symbols on UK museum websites and catalogues are now redundant if the original work of art is out of copyright

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How Italy’s Renaissance lives on today

Like their 15th-century counterparts, contemporary artists continue to enjoy the patronage of the church

As London's National Portrait Gallery reopens, we must rethink dusty prejudices

Reviews of the revamped institution insist on calling its former building 'dusty', but that label should really be applied to the website, which is badly in need of an update

Should he take after Charles I or Charles II? It is time for the new king to set his artistic agenda

The coronation is a good moment to assess the direction of travel of Charles III, the most accomplished artist yet to take the throne

'Westminster Abbey charges £27 per ticket—even God might baulk at that price'

If ever a ticket price reflected British history it is for this royal church, where the nation’s great and good are commemorated in profusion

'Why I can't get excited about AI art'

Only humans can make proper sense of the world, Bendor Grosvenor argues

What's up at the National Gallery? The London institution is half of what it used to be

The closure of the Sainsbury Wing ahead of a £35m refurbishment has meant that much of the museum is off limits in 2023. I hope it's worth it

Was a Vienna auction's €6,000 'copy' of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling actually by Michelangelo?

My heart-stopping research saga to find out if Dorotheum’s part-painted cartoon by a "follower" was in fact a sleeper

Protestors took too much risk throwing soup on the Sunflowers—and missed an opportunity

Had they thought about it more deeply, the activists who attacked the Van Gogh work could have gained something more than attention

Some (impertinent) art advice for King Charles III on how to manage the Royal Collection

Opening it up through more generous loans and by easing copyright restrictions would be good for both HM and the country

The conservation studio is the coalface of art history—but not all 'restorations' can be solved with acetone

While my past purchases are lined up for a professional clean, it is the current damage of international cultural relations that seem most in need of a fix

British Museum presses on minting NFTs despite crypto crash—when will UK museums stop seeing artworks as assets?

This Diary's predictions about NFTs, Brexit and Boris Johnson have all come true. But Britain removing image restrictions on art would be the ultimate victory

Why take binoculars on your next museum visit? You might solve an art history mystery

An unattributed painting in Lincolnshire's Burghley House bears a striking resemblance to the work of Hans Eworth

The British Museum's NFT project has sent its carbon footprint soaring

Since the London museum began selling digital versions of works from its collection last September, it has emitted enough carbon to power an average US home for at least 57 years

In a world of digital innovation, what if art becomes… boring?

A virtual reality visit to the Sistine Chapel made me realise that museums are going to have to up their game in order to maintain visitors' interest

The British Museum demeans itself by selling its works as NFTs—and will probably live to regret it

In giving cultural validity to meaningless reproductions of Turner and Hokusai pieces, The British Museum blurs the lines between real and fake at its peril

Omicron won't thwart my Old Master mission

My trip to Munich's Alte Pinakothek was worth the multiple levels of Covid-related admin

And the award goes to… my wholly personal choices of the best of the art world in 2021

Bendor Grosvenor selects his favourite exhibition, discovery, book and auction consignment of the year

UK heritage charity the National Trust is ending the year richer than ever—so why all the staff cuts?

The more than 1,700 workers who lost their jobs last year have every right to feel aggrieved as Trust weathers storm regardless of staff savings

Mourning the loss of a fine Rembrandt scholar

Ernst van der Wetering's death this summer leaves a vacancy for an appointed representative of the Dutch master on earth

'The art in Spain stays mainly off the plane': grim Brexit news from the art buying frontline

I've learned the new political lessons about art shipping the hard way—so you don't have to