DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME CXCIV No– 703

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Cover La Bella Simonetta, c. 1485, Sandro Botticelli (1444/45–1510), tempera and oil on panel, 81.8 × 54cm. Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main See feature on pp. 76–81

APOLLO DECEMBER 2021

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19 Editor’s Letter 20 Agenda

December highlights 22 Forum

Is the M+ museum in Hong Kong still a good idea? 25 Diary

Sue Prideaux visits the vast new Edvard Munch museum in Oslo 29 Letter

Max Norman takes a tour of the Rocchetta Mattei, the peculiar home of an eccentric Italian count 32 Architecture

William Aslet asks how Portland stone came to define London 34 Inquiry

Jo Lawson-Tancred considers how advances in machine learning are changing the study of art history

Apollo Awards 2021 40 Personality 42 Artist 50 Museum Opening 52 Exhibition 54 Book 56 Digital Innovation 58 Acquisition

Plus our survey of the year’s most important museum acquisitions

Features 68 Conversation Pieces

Fabergé’s fabulous creations made gifts fit for every monarch in Europe, writes Kirsten Tambling 76 Going for Gold

Imogen Tedbury considers what an intriguing collage can tell us about Botticelli’s debt to earlier artists 82 Objects of His Affection

Robert Kime shows Susan Moore the eclectic range of antiques he has amassed since the age of five

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