The theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 is one of the art world’s most sensational crimes. The Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was taken, almost in plain sight, from its place in the Louvre, Paris, with very few clues as to the identity of its thief left behind. In this special blog, we will tell the story of the theft of the Mona Lisa through our newspapers, as the crime filled newspaper columns across the world. We will draw on …
art history
This week, in preparation for the Coronation on 6 May, we welcome The King and His Navy and Army to The Archive as one of a trio of brand new titles. Meanwhile, over the last seven days, we have added a total of 304,221 brand new pages to our collection, with updates to 26 of our existing titles, from Birmingham to Bristol, from Hertford to Huddersfield, from Walsall to Whitstable. So read on to find out more about our new …
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The work of poet, mystic and painter William Blake was largely unrecognised in his lifetime. The son of a dissenting hosier, Blake was born in London’s Soho in 1757, and was apprenticed to an engraver at a young age. Hostile to organised religion, he created an array of paintings and poetry, often inspired by his visions, before he passed away in 1827. In this special blog, we will take a look at the evolving attitudes to the art of William …
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Our Archive is a rich resource for academics, historians and writers, researching a wide variety of topics. Biographer Ruth Ord-Hume has used The Archive in researching her new book Mr. Percy, Portrait modeller in coloured wax, published by ACC Art Books. Here, Ruth Ord-Hume describes how she used the newspapers from our collection to research her book, and to find out more about this extraordinary artist. When I set out to research the life and work of Samuel Percy I soon …