Matthew Wilson

History of art is not a ‘soft’ subject

From our UK edition

I may be biased because I teach it, but history of art A-level often feels like the greatest, yet most dismally undervalued, subject in the curriculum. It explores history’s most innovative thinkers, enhances visual literacy, teaches history through the prism of creativity and emotion, sharpens critical thinking, and fosters empathy and open-mindedness. Yet it languishes

James Heale, Hannah Moore and Matthew Wilson

From our UK edition

18 min listen

This week: James Heale reads his interview with Lee Anderson MP (00:54), Hannah Moore writes in defence of amateur sleuths (05:33), and Matthew Wilson discusses the rehabilitation of the rose (09:54).  Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson. 

Why are roses romantic?

From our UK edition

You may think that roses have always symbolised courteous romance, but art history describes their smuttier private life. Consider the pouting red blooms in Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s ‘Venus Verticordia’, which the art critic John Ruskin considered so obscene that he refused to continue his friendship with the painter. Ruskin admired the execution when he first