DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME CXCIV No– 703
p. 50
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Munchmusee
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Paris; ©
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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
p. 25
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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