Art

Brian Allen looks at how contemporary military and political aspirations and events inspired – or failed to inspire the artists of mid-Georgian Britain.

Luke Syson examines how artifice, art and political calculation combined to produce medal portraits by Sperandio of Mantua for two of Renaissance Italy's "warhorses", Giovanni Bentivoglio and Federico da Montelfeltro.

Andrew Martindale explains why Renaissance Sienese doctored the history of a 12th-century papacy when decorating their new city hall.

How did Hollywood screenwriter Frank Capra get involved in the sort of film projects that in his and other hands filled a generation of American servicemen with a fundamentalist world view? James Gilbert offers an explanation.

Peter Higgs looks at how a monumental Hellenistic statue sheds light on culture, religion and identity in Roman North Africa.

From martyred medieval saint through to 20th-century museum - Philippa Glanville unravels the enigmatic history of an object which opens a window onto England's religious turmoil.

Richard Shone looks at the foray into portraiture of a leading British artist and reflects on the tensions of painter-patron relations in the cultural climate of 1930s Britain.

How did Hitler's armies try and persuade the occupied populations of the Soviet Union to live with their new regime? British military historian John Erickson comments on wartime posters unearthed from the Russian archives.

G. Waterfield and Nicola Smith look at an initiative to blend industrial living and artistic appreciation in Victorian Britain.

Frank Nowikowski investigates missing paintings mysteriously found after the Second World War.