Happy New Year!

Let's hope 2022 is a brighter year and we can get out and about with friends and family. Here are some ideas to get you going in January.

There are a few superb ongoing exhibitions! Frans Hals: the Male Portrait at the Wallace Collection explores the importance of portraiture in the 1600s and includes the 'Laughing Cavalier'. See William Hogarth's work in a different light (Hogarth and Europe) at Tate Britain - he championed British art in the 1700s after centuries of domination by European painters. Meanwhile, there is a highly recommended exhibition covering the royal cousins Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots at the British Library. This includes exceptional documents including Elizabeth's iconic speech to her troops at Tilbury in 1588. Here's a taster - "I have the body but of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king".