Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Never Lived and Will Never Die
This is a must for everyone who loves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
creation and is fascinated by London. You walk through a book-lined door into a
corridor lined with posters and clips from the many film, TV and theatre adaptations.
Around the corner is the story of how
the world’s first consulting detective was created along with original
illustrations, a 1927 filmed interview and a portrait of the author (left) and a notebook
containing the outline of the first Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet. 
Victorian London, in which the adventures are set, is
portrayed in the central section of the exhibition. There are contemporary photographs,
paintings (including a Monet of Charing Cross Bridge in a yellow swirl of fog),
drawings and antique maps which show the routes Holmes would have taken, and how the journey is today (left).
Then, past an iconic display of deerstalker, pipe,
and magnifying glass, you see the many sides of Sherlock: the mastermind, the
forensic scientist, the Bohemian, the model Englishman and the master of
disguise. Highlights include the overcoat and dressing gown worn by
Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC Sherlock series and the earliest surviving
manuscript page from The Sign of Four, relating to the detective’s use of cocaine.
The final section, The Immortal Sherlock Holmes, reflects on
the longevity of the creation. In December 1893, Sherlock seemingly plunged to
his death at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland with his arch enemy, Moriarty.
But pressure from readers caused Conan
Doyle to resurrect the detective, and his last appearance is just before the
outbreak of WWI, when he comes out of retirement to outsmart a German spy.
Museum of London to April 12, 2015 £10.90, £9 concs.
More details of the exhibition and associated events at www.museumoflondon.org.uk/sherlock
Rembrandt: The Late Works
The first room of this exhibition is enough to take your
breath away: four self-portraits in oils and a tiny etching, all from the last
years of his life. He looks amused, thoughtful, sad. It was a difficult time:
he’d gone bankrupt (his painting style had gone out of fashion), his common-law
wife, Hendrickje, had died, as had his beloved son, Titus. Yet still he painted,
experimenting with different techniques, the layers of paint laid on with a
palette knife and becoming ever thicker. The works illustrate his manipulation
of light and shadow for dramatic and symbolic effect, his interpretation of
the works of others, and the way he conveyed the inner feelings of his sitters. 
One of the most moving is the so-called Jewish Bride, from about 1665, on loan
from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The lovers embrace in a moment of tender affection,
confident and proud to have their feelings captured by the artist.
The final
painting, left unfinished at Rembrandt’s death three years later, is Simeon
with the Infant Christ in the Temple. Here the old man, eyes almost shut,
carries the child in his arms – the start of a new biblical era.
The National Gallery, to Jan 19 2015, £16.
Ming: 50 years that changed China
This was a golden age in China’s history. Between 1400 and
1450AD China was a global superpower run by one family – the Ming dynasty – who established the capital in Beijing and built the Forbidden City. Four emperors ruled
during this time, and treasures from princely tombs illustrate the richness and
variety of their costume, jewellery and furniture.This painting shows an emperor watching a football-like game, meant to strengthen leg muscles and increase agility.
This period also saw the
admiral Zheng open up his country, sending treasure ships to Southeast Asia,
the Middle East and Africa. The trading relationships that were established
influenced taste in an increasingly wealthy society. This porcelain flask dating from 1403-24 was inspired by a Middle Eastern shape.
The British Museum, to Jan 5, 2014, £16.50
Wedding Dresses 1775 - 2014
Two floors of exquisite outfits, lovingly preserved by their
wearers and descendants. They chart the development
of wedding attire through history, from the floral silk dress worn with a straw
hat by Jane Bailey, a wealthy farmer’s daughter in Hampshire in the 18th
c to those worn by Camilla Parker Bowles, later Duchess of Cornwall, and Kate Moss when she married Jamie Hince (left).
Designers featured include Norman Hartnell, Belville Sassoon, Vivienne Westwood, Vera Wang
and John Galliano. 
The exhibition shows the celebrity wedding is not a modern
phenomenon. When Margaret Whigham (later Duchess of Argyll) married Charles
Sweeny in 1933 her fans brought traffic to a standstill for three hours outside
the Brompton Oratory in West London. It’s doubtful if many of those who caught
a glimpse of the bride would have been able to copy her extravagant outfit
though: the dramatic train stretched for 3.6 metres, and the dress occupies a
whole showcase.
The VandA, to March 15, 2015, £13.50
Anarchy and Beauty – William Morris and his legacy, 1860 –
1960
Morris’s advice, “Have nothing in your house that you do not
know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”, still holds good more than a
century later. This exhibition brings together his politics, thought and design
with portraits, furniture, wallpaper (left: his first, Daisy), books, banners, textiles and jewellery. (The ‘anarchy’
comes from his links with Russian anarchists and support for trades unions, women’s
education and suffrage.) The work of his inner circle, including the potter
William De Morgan, architect Philip Webb and furniture makers Ernest Gimson and
the Barnsley brothers, is also displayed.
The exhibition shows his legacy in a display on the
Garden City movement and the way in which ‘good design’ became available to a
wider market through pioneering home furnishing shops such as Ambrose Heal’s. This
continued with the Festival of Britain in 1951 and the government-sponsored
Council of Industrial Design. And to bring it up to date – Sir Terence
Conran worked as an assistant to one of the Festival of Britain designers. One of his own chairs is featured in the
exhibition (left).
National Portrait Gallery, to Jan 11 2015 £14
