Renaissance
Studio: Donatello at the Palazzo Strozzi
A magnificent celebration of the artist who was midwife to the birth of humanism
Sex and Sanctity
There are wonders great and small in the Raphael exhibition at the National Gallery
Seductive, scholarly life of the poet-priest
This new biography of John Donne brings the centuries-dead poet to life
Masterly study of sacred masterpieces
Embodied divinity
A classic work of unbridled joy
This is the best popular edition ever produced of one of the most amusing books in our language
Whatever happened to the polymath?
Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic’s political editor, Graham Stewart, about the idea of the Renaissance Man
Commoner with the divine touch
Raphael, as dedicated a lover as he was a painter, died at 37 at the height of his powers and fame, illustrates Michael Prodger
Why was I the only reporter?
On the sentencing of the Rotherham grooming gang
Fleeing Sally Rooney’s god
Why have critics been ignoring one of the novelist’s most important themes?
Labour’s insecurity counsel
A strategy of concession and apology will not build Britain’s soft power
Art sales slump
Real world issues have quenched the post-COVID euphoria
Hoorah for winter!
Life comes alive again in October when you can start anticipating proper National Hunt racing
Can we save our parish churches?
It will take cultural as well as institutional change
British libel laws are a SLAPP in the face to press freedom
We need major liberalisation of libel law
Liberal myths of the “good old ways”
Donald Trump’s foreign policy is not so very different from the Democrats’ imagined golden age of American leadership
Tom Stoppard’s Hampstead drama
Best not try to memorise this deceptive Connect Four of relationships — just get into the flow
Minimum pricing, maximum annoyance
No one wins when the minimum price for alcohol rises
The expensive problem with the minimum wage
Higher wages for some, perhaps, but joblessness for others
