In this episode we’ll be hearing about precious stones – about how artists and patrons have lusted for their lustre across civilisations, and of how their brilliance has thrilled beholders over centuries. We’ll learn how the meanings of different stones have shifted over time and as they’ve crossed borders, and about how changing techniques of cutting or working with them have added new facets to their appeal.   Thomas Marks, editor of Apollo magazine, is delighted to be joined by Sandra Crona

For this episode the focus is on antiquities and Thomas is delighted to be joined by Tom Hardwick – an Egyptologist who writes about Egyptian sculpture and the history of collecting, and Consulting Curator of the Hall of Ancient Egypt at the Houston Museum of Natural Science – and by Madeleine Perridge, Gallery Director at Kallos Gallery, London, among the leading international specialists in artworks from the ancient world. Masterpiece Conversations is a series of podcasts that in each episode

For this episode the focus is on post-war design and Thomas is delighted to be joined by Libby Sellers – design historian, consultant, curator and writer, and former curator at the Design Museum in London – and by Sebastian Holt, UK director of Modernity, the 20th-century Nordic design specialists based in Stockholm and London. Masterpiece Conversations is a series of podcasts that in each episode brings together a leading curator and art dealer to offer a taste of what people are really talkin

For this episode the focus is on post-war and contemporary art and Thomas is delighted to be joined by Flavia Frigeri, Chanel Curator for the Collection at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and by Niamh Coghlan, director at Richard Saltoun Gallery, specialists in contemporary art, with an emphasis on feminist, conceptual and performance artists from the 1960s onwards. Masterpiece Conversations is a series of podcasts that in each episode brings together a leading curator and art dealer t

For this episode the focus is on contemporary sculpture and Thomas is delighted to be joined by Melanie Vandenbrouck, curator of sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and by Mica Bowman, director at Bowman Sculpture, specialists in sculpture from 1860 to the present day. Masterpiece Conversations is a series of podcasts that in each episode brings together a leading curator and art dealer to offer a taste of what people are really talking about in a particular field.   Thomas

Today we’ll be hearing about the ancient and enduring craft of ceramics – from the elemental forming and firing of clay that has been advanced by so many civilisations to the ‘white gold’ of porcelain, and the potters and patrons who have dedicated themselves to its mysteries.    I’m delighted to be joined by two London-based specialists in the field: Adrian Sassoon, expert in 18th-century French porcelain and contemporary works of art in ceramic, and by Errol Manners of E. and H. Manners Cera

Today we’ll be hearing about why artists have been so drawn to bronze for thousands of years – a material that is notoriously difficult to work with and yet has rarely been out of fashion.   I’m delighted to be joined by Martin Clist, managing director of Charles Ede in London, one of the world’s leading dealerships for works of ancient art from Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire; and by Peter Osborne, of Osborne Samuel, one of London’s leading dealers in modern British painting and sculpture.

Today we’ll be talking about pigment and the ingredients of paint – that is, how a range of coloured substances, usually ground into powders and mixed with oil, water or another type of binder, have been the starting point for paintings from prehistoric murals to Pop art and beyond. We’ll be discussing how far an understanding of pigment has been fundamental to the painting of the past, including how certain colours have been valued or venerated – and we’ll explore what contemporary painters kno

Today we’ll be talking about wood – a material that is in a sense very ordinary but which has been made extraordinary by artists from many different cultures, and for thousands of years. It has been carved and turned, joined and inlaid, polished and painted – and in many cases, its endurance against the odds has lent it a fragile preciousness that only adds to the sense of wonder that it inspires. Featuring Patrick Mestdagh, whose gallery in Brussels presents objects from outside Europe – fro

Welcome to Encountering Beauty, a series of podcasts brought to you by Masterpiece London, with Thomas Marks, editor of Apollo magazine. These podcasts we’ll be exploring the enduring relevance and resonance of what have long been some of the most revered and versatile materials that artists have had at their disposal.   In this episode we’ll be hearing about the marvels of marble, a material that since antiquity has captured the imaginations of sculptors and architects. Across cultures and ce