More than relaxation, famous landmarks, and the local beers, I’m all about taking in the art and history of the places I visit.
Even in London, I aim to visit all the homes of art I’ve yet to see with my own eyes – Rubens’ ceiling in the Banqueting House being at the very top of that list.
Here’s a list of my favourite places to visit…
Click the link to be taken straight to recommendations from that city or country.
London
The National Gallery
Don’t Miss
Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks
Raphael’s St. Catherine of Alexandria
Gerrit van Honthorst’s Saint Sebastian
The V&A
Don’t Miss
Samson Slaying a Philistine by Giovanni Bologna
The Raphael Cartoons
The Leighton Corridor which houses Lord Leighton’s frescoes
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Don’t Miss
Soul’s Chapel
The cupola of the dome painted by James Thornhill
William Black Richmond’s mosaics
The British Museum
Don’t Miss
The Crouching Venus
Mozambique’s decommissioned weapons in The Tree of Life
Narasimha
The Queen’s Gallery
Don’t Miss
Artemisia Gentileschi’s La Pittura
Canaletto’s views of Venice
Rubens’ Winter: The Interior of a Barn
The Courtauld
Don’t Miss
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
Unmoored from her Reflection by Cecily Brown
As always, look up!
Tate Britain
Don’t Miss
David Bomberg’s The Mud Bath
An Athlete Wrestling with a Python by Frederic Leighton
Jacob Epstein’s Torso in Metal
Wallace Collection
Don’t Miss
The dagger of Shah Jahan
Francesca da Rimini by Ary Scheffer
The unknown woman by an unknown artist, Bust of a Woman
RA of Arts
Don’t Miss
The casts of the Belvedere Torso and the Laocoön
William Pink’s Smugglerius
Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo
Vatican City
Rome
Villa Medici
Don’t Miss
The Marble Copies of the Medici Lions
Cardinal Ferdinando’s Studiolo
Claudio Parmiggiani’s Butterflies
Borghese Gallery
Don’t Miss
Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina
Raphael’s Deposition
The Sleeping Hermaphroditus
Villa Farnesina
Don’t Miss
Loggia of Galatea’s Ceiling
Alexander and Roxane’s Wedding Hall
Hall of Perspectives
Castel Sant’ Angelo
Don’t Miss
Archangel Michael
Models of the Castel across the Centuries
The View from the Bar
San Luigi de Francesci
Don’t Miss
Caravaggio’s St. Matthew
The Contarelli Chapel
The Organ above the Entrance
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Don’t Miss
Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
The Fountain of Moses
Domenico Guidi’s Dream of St. Joseph
Capitoline Museum
Don’t Miss
Piazza del Campidoglio
Bernini’s Medusa
View of the Roman Forum
Basilica of Sant’Agostino
Don’t Miss
Caravaggio’s Madonna of the Pilgrims
Raphael’s Prophet Isaiah
Melchiorre Cafà’s St. Thomas of Villanova
Santa Maria Maggiore
Don’t Miss
Bernini’s Grace
Christ’s Crib Relic
Mosaics of the Portico
Santa Maria del Popolo
Don’t Miss
Chapel Cerasi
Chapel Chigi
Pinturicchio’s Ceiling Fresco
Museo de Roma
Don’t Miss
Giuseppe Valadier’s Staircase
Pietro Tenerani’s Fainting Psyche
Pallavicini Rospigliosi Chapel Model
San Pietro in Vincoli
Don’t Miss
Michelangelo’s Moses
Saint Peter’s Chains
Giovanni Battista Parodi’s Miracle of the Chains fresco
Corsini Gallery
Don’t Miss
Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist
Orazio Gentileschi’s Madonna with Child
Salvator Rosa’s The Torture of Prometheus
Barberini Gallery
Don’t Miss
Bernini’s Square Staircase
Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes
Bromine’s Helicoidal Staircase
Doria Pamphilj
Don’t Miss
Caravaggio’s Penitent Magdalene
Parmigianino’s Doria Madonna
Fra Filippo Lippi’s Annunciation
Scotland
Scottish National Gallery
Don’t Miss
Titian’s Venus Rising from the Sea
Edwin Landseet’s The Monarch of the Glen
Innocenzo Spinazzi’s copy of the Venus de’ Medici
St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral
Don’t Miss
A. E. Borthwick’s The Presence
The Paolozzi Window
The high altar, designed by J Oldrid Scott
National Museum of Scotland
Don’t Miss
The Arthur’s Seat coffins
The Millennium Clock
Mary, Queen of Scots’ Book of Hours
England
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Don’t Miss
Guy Fawkes’ Lantern
The death mask of Oliver Cromwell
Paolo Uccello’s The Hunt in the Forest
The Bodleian Library, Oxford
Don’t Miss
The Divinity School
The Exhibitions at the Weston Library
The Old Bodleian Library
St. Bart & St. Boisil’s, Tweedsmouth
Don’t Miss
The stained-glass window of the Evangelists
Displaced grave of an unknown knight
The stained-glass window of the Crucifixion
France
The Louvre
Don’t Miss
Victoire de Samothrace on the top of the grand staircase
The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault
Canova’s Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss
Pantheon
Don’t Miss
Hugo, Dumas and Zola’s Crypt
The Foucault Pendulum
Antoine-Jean Gros’ fresco in the dome
Palais Garnier
Don’t Miss
Le Grand Foyer
Paris Opera Library
The ballet dancers practicing
Versailles
Don’t Miss
Galeries des Glaces
The Gardens of Versailles
Don’t forget to look up!
Eglise Saint-Sulpice
Don’t Miss
Delacroix’s Frescos
The sculpture of St. Peter
The Fountain of the Four Cardinal Points
Musée de l’Orangerie
Don’t Miss
The Nymphéas
Rodin’s The Kiss
Firmin Bourgeois’ architecture
Belgium
Church of Our Lady, Bruges
Don’t Miss
Michelangelo’s Madonna of Bruges
Ceremonial tombs of Mary of Burgundy
Van Dyck’s painting of the Crucifixion
Musée d’Arts Anciens, Namur
Don’t Miss
The treasures of the Oignies
Mosan altarpieces
Reliquary of the Coast of St. Peter
Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp
Don’t Miss
Rubens’ altarpieces
The Man who Bears the Cross by Jan Fabre
Javier Pérez’s Corona
Musée Fin-de-Siècle, Brussels
Don’t Miss
Alphonse Mucha’s The Nature sculpture
Rodin’s Fallen Caryatid Carrying her Stone
Jacques Bergé’s Dying Gladiator
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Liège
Don’t Miss
Le Génie du Mal by Guillaume Geefs
The pulpit
Jean del Cour’s St. John the Baptist
Museum of Original Figures, Brussels
Don’t Miss
Smurf Village
The life-size figures of American comic characters
Tintin in Space
Sint-Baafs Cathedral, Ghent
Don’t Miss
The van Eyck brothers’ Ghent Altarpiece
The Altar
Look up at the architecture
Xpo Salvador Dalí, Bruges
Don’t Miss
Surrealistic Angel
Un Chien Andalou playing on the screens
The quotes on the walls
The Netherlands
The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Don’t Miss
The Japanese temple guardians
The doll’s house which inspired Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist
Marauding monkeys throughout the paintings
Het RembrandtHuis, Amsterdam
Don’t Miss
The recreation of Rembrandt’s collection room
Pieter Lastman’s The Sacrifice of Abraham
260+ etchings made by Rembrandt himself
Escher in Het Paleis, The Hague
Don’t Miss
Hand with a Reflecting Sphere
Drawing Hands
Snakes
Germany
Frauenkirche, Dresden
Don’t Miss
Climb the dome for the most spectacular views
Adolf von Donndorf’s sculpture of Martin Luther
The frescos within the dome
Händel-Haus, Halle (Saale)
Don’t Miss
Collection of musical instruments
Handwritten sheets of music
The house in which he Händel was born
Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen, Halle
Don’t Miss
The organ on which Bach played
The font in which Händal was baptised
Evidence of the destruction of part of the building outside
