Reviews Archive

Review

A voyage around Virgil’s world

By making the Aeneid accessible to the epic’s readers in English, Christopher Tanfield's companion to the text in translation is no less useful to students who are more deeply enga..

Armand D'Angour September 26, 2025

Blitz clubbers congrating at the foyer of the Rainbow Theatre in North London to celebrate the start of the New Romantic era.

Review

Blitz, the victory of style over substance

The Blitz club’s influence on eighties fashion proved to be far greater than its influence on music.

Paul Lay September 25, 2025

Anna Netrebko as Floria Tosca and Gerald Finley as Baron Scarpia in Oliver Mears' Tosca. Credit: The Royal Opera/ Marc Brenner

Review

An unflinching Tosca

The controversial Anna Netrebko has staged a breathtaking comeback. Each note of her ‘Vissi d’arte’ pulsates with emotion.

Alexandra Wilson September 24, 2025

James I of England (James VI of Scotland), (1566-1625), portrait painting in oil on panel by John de Critz

Review

The genius of King James

Although he is often remembered for his defence of witch-hunting and divinely sanctioned monarchy, James Stuart was also a shrewd statesman, a prolific writer and a flawed – but fa..

Gareth Russell September 23, 2025

Review

Trouble in Königsberg

A scandal that took place in Königsberg in the 1830s tells a grander story of Europe and religion, and the battle between reason and imagination.

Peter Hoskin September 22, 2025

Neo-impressionist painting of women sat at a table in july

Review

Helene Kröller-Müller’s radical eye

Visionary German collector, Helene Kröller-Müller, championed Van Gogh and the Neo-Impressionists long before the art world recognised their worth.

Alexandra Wilson September 18, 2025

Ottoman manuscript showing the Ottoman army under the command of Suleiman the Magnificent at the Battle of Mohács (1526).

Review

The Ottomans, from dawn to decadence

The Ottomans' lightning conquests reshaped the geopolitical landscape of Europe and the Middle East, before the expense of governing a vast territorial empire began to take its tol..

Nicholas Morton September 17, 2025

picture of king harold in battle fighting in the battle of hastings

Review

1066 and all the clichés

The epic drama of the Norman Conquest has been adapted into a half-baked tale, light on history and heavy on tropes.

Helen Carr September 17, 2025

An early 20th-century postcard showing Sherif Pasha Street (now Salah Salem) in Alexandria, Egypt.

Review

Cavafy, poet of a vanished world

The Alexandrian Greek poet Constantine P. Cavafy willed himself and his poetry upon the world’s imagination. A man of striking contradictions, he was a prophet of the perils and pr..

Margarita Mathiopoulos September 12, 2025