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NEWS All the latest Canterbury Cathedral at night © Canterbury Cathedral Above The piece made up part of a temple frieze from the archaeological site Surkh Kotal KA-BULL A 2nd-century sculpture stolen from the National Museum of Afghanistan and offered for sale by an online UK auction house is to be returned to Kabul. WHAT’S GOING ON IN MARCH ANTIQUE news The Kushan piece, depicting a reclining bull, will go on display at the British Museum before its return. The sculpture was withdrawn from sale by Timeline Auctions in 2019 after the Art Loss Register reported it to the Metropolitan Police’s art and antiques unit. Our round-up of the pick of the events taking place this month A year-long programme of events marking the 850th anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket continues this month at the Museum of London. Becket2020 sees venues in London, Canterbury and beyond host a range of activities across the year to commemorate the murder, which changed the course of history. The schedule will culminate in October with the first major UK exhibition exploring Becket’s life, death and legacy at the British Museum. Left A pilgrim badge, pewter, 14th century © Museum of London Below right A pendant with an image of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury, 15th century, England © The Trustees of the British Museum He was canonised by the Pope with his shrine at Canterbury becoming a major centre of European pilgrimage before being destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII in the early years of the English Reformation. Naomi Speakman, co-curator of Thomas Becket at the British Museum, said: “Becket’s death had repercussions that have echoed through time, and we’re delighted to be telling this important story for the first time in a major exhibition.” Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was killed in Canterbury Cathedral on December 2, 1170 by four knights allied to his former friend Henry II. BECKET BADGES For more than 300 years, Londoners who flocked to Becket’s shrine in Canterbury were rewarded with a pewter badge keepsake. Over the centuries, hundreds of pilgrim souvenirs have been recovered from London excavations and mudlarking along the Thames. The Museum of London, which holds the largest collection in the country, recently unveiled a display. Bottom right A reliquary, Limoges, c. 1200. The image on the front panel shows the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral © The Trustees of the British Museum Right Alabaster sculpture, c. 1450– 1550, England, showing Becket kneeling at an altar with the monk Edward Grim, whose arm was injured by one of the knight’s swords © The Trustees of the British Museum 6 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
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Far left Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) The Slippers of Cinderella 1894. Mark Samuels Lasner Collection, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press Left Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s Salomé The Peacock Skirt 1893 © Tate Below left Frederick Evans (1853-1943) portrait of Aubrey Beardsley, 1893. Wilson Centre for Photography 1Wilde thing The brief life and astonishing body of work by Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98) is celebrated at an exhibition opening this month in London. Although he died at the age of just 25, Beardsley’s subversive, sinuous black-and-white images have continued to shock and delight admirers for more than a century. Beardsley was one of the enfants terribles of finde-siècle London, best remembered for his powerful illustrations of Oscar Wilde’s controversial play Salomé. In just seven years he produced hundreds of illustrations for books, periodicals and posters. Bringing together 200 spectacular works, Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain from March 4 to May 25, will be the largest display of his drawings in more than 50 years and the first exhibition of his work at Tate since 1923. Above right William Hogarth (1697-1764) A Rake’s Progress 3 The Orgy, Sir John Soanes Museum 3to see in March Far right William Hogarth (1697-1764) A Rake’s Progress 2 The Rake’s Levee, 1734, Sir John Soane's Museum Right William Hogarth (1697-1764) A Rake’s Progress 4 The Arrest, Sir John Soane's Museum 2Rakish charm All eight paintings from William Hogarth’s (1697-1764) A Rake’s Progress are reunited in one of their original homes this month. 286 years on from his morality tale of the city, the works go on show at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in Ealing – the former home of the British neoclassical architect, Sir John Soane. Hogarth: London Voices, London Lives, from March 18 to July 19, will also pair Hogarth’s famous 18th-century series with works by contemporary artists capturing today’s capital. A Rake’s Progress depicts the decline of Tom Rakewell, whose inherited fortune is squandered by profligacy. The paintings were purchased by Sir John Soane’s wife Eliza for Pitzhanger in 1802 to be shown alongside Soane’s growing collection of art and antiquities. When Soane sold Pitzhanger he took the paintings to his home in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, now Sir John Soane’s Museum. 3Blake’s heaven 100 new pastel portraits by Sir Quentin Blake (b. 1932) go on show this month in London. While some of the works are no larger than A5, others are more than a metre square – all are created using a black oil pastel stick. Sir Quentin said: “I’ve had the stub of a Sennelier oil stick in my studio in Hastings for a very long time. One day I picked it up and decided to see what it can do – I loved it and that is how all this started.” Gustave Sennelier, who opened an art supply store in 1887 near Paris’s famous École des Beaux-Arts, soon supplied Cézanne, Gauguin and Monet. Quentin Blake: The Sennelier Portraits, is on at the Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, London from March 8-28. Left The artist Quentin Blake has created more than 100 line drawings Right Quentin Blake (b. 1932), self-portrait, 2019 © The Artist Far right Quentin Blake (b. 1932), self-portrait, 2019 © The Artist ANTIQUE COLLECTING 7

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NEWS All the latest

Canterbury Cathedral at night © Canterbury Cathedral

Above The piece made up part of a temple frieze from the archaeological site Surkh Kotal

KA-BULL A 2nd-century sculpture stolen from the National Museum of Afghanistan and offered for sale by an online UK auction house is to be returned to Kabul.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN MARCH

ANTIQUE news

The Kushan piece, depicting a reclining bull, will go on display at the British Museum before its return. The sculpture was withdrawn from sale by Timeline Auctions in 2019 after the Art Loss Register reported it to the Metropolitan Police’s art and antiques unit.

Our round-up of the pick of the events taking place this month

A year-long programme of events marking the 850th anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket continues this month at the Museum of London.

Becket2020 sees venues in London, Canterbury and beyond host a range of activities across the year to commemorate the murder, which changed the course of history. The schedule will culminate in October with the first major UK exhibition exploring Becket’s life, death and legacy at the British Museum.

Left A pilgrim badge, pewter, 14th century © Museum of London

Below right A pendant with an image of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury, 15th century, England © The Trustees of the British Museum

He was canonised by the Pope with his shrine at Canterbury becoming a major centre of European pilgrimage before being destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII in the early years of the English Reformation.

Naomi Speakman, co-curator of Thomas Becket at the British Museum, said: “Becket’s death had repercussions that have echoed through time, and we’re delighted to be telling this important story for the first time in a major exhibition.”

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was killed in Canterbury Cathedral on December 2, 1170 by four knights allied to his former friend Henry II.

BECKET BADGES For more than 300 years, Londoners who flocked to Becket’s shrine in Canterbury were rewarded with a pewter badge keepsake. Over the centuries, hundreds of pilgrim souvenirs have been recovered from London excavations and mudlarking along the Thames. The Museum of London, which holds the largest collection in the country, recently unveiled a display.

Bottom right A reliquary, Limoges, c. 1200. The image on the front panel shows the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral © The Trustees of the British Museum

Right Alabaster sculpture, c. 1450– 1550, England, showing Becket kneeling at an altar with the monk Edward Grim, whose arm was injured by one of the knight’s swords © The Trustees of the British Museum

6 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

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