The Beauty and the Terror in Renoir’s ‘Pink and Blue’
This 1881 portrait of Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d'Anvers would inspire Catherine Ostler's The Renoir Girls
19th Century
A collection of 37 Posts
What is a Blockade – and Do They Work?
As President Trump announces his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, we glance back at the history of this military tactic
Mary Anne Clarke and the Duke of York Scandal (1809)
We look back at the story of the Duke of York Scandal of 1809 when Mary Anne Clarke and Colonel Wardle upended British politics.
Mad Tom's Rising with Ian Breckon
The author Ian Breckon recalls one of the most peculiar revolts in English history
1877: Recruiting Sergeants in Westminster
By the mid-Victorian Age people were beginning to look at recruiting sergeants with fresh eyes
1892: Tower Bridge, London
At the end of the nineteenth century the gaunt arms of an engineering wonder stretched across the River Thames
Meet me at the Cemetery Gates
Little spaces, profound stories. Roger Luckhurst tells us about London's hidden cemeteries
How the Victorians Defended Britain with Andrew Lambert
Andrew Lambert's new book explores an inspired century of statecraft
The Leprosarium at Robben Island
Oliver Basciano recounts a lesser known part of Robben Island's complex history
Alexander Pushkin and the City of Death and Beauty
Sinclair McKay explores the significance of one of Russia's great poet's death to the people of Saint Petersburg
1895: A Remarkable Railway Crash in Paris
The day in 1895 when a locomotive ploughed through the wall of Montparnasse Station