Author

Mathew Lyons

Articles by Mathew Lyons

Louis XVI giving expedition instructions to La Perouse.
Review

Versailles’ splendour unbounded

The institutions of old Europe were at the forefront of intellectual and technological innovations that still shape our lives today...

Mathew LyonsDecember 17, 2024
Tirzah Garwood's Train Journey, a wood engraving from 1929.
Review

The magic of Tirzah Garwood

Tirzah Garwood's work is characterised by strangeness, meditative intensity and precision, and a deep sense of play...

Mathew LyonsNovember 26, 2024
Akbar handing the imperial crown to Shah Jahan in the presence of Jahangir.
Review

The Mughals, opulence unparalleled

Created to exalt imperial power, Mughal art continues to inspire awe...

Mathew LyonsNovember 8, 2024
Christine de Pizan builds her city.
Review

Medieval women speak beyond the page

The great unruly chorus of medieval women’s voices finds a precious, vital stage...

Mathew LyonsOctober 27, 2024
European anchovy.
Review

A little history of the anchovy

The anchovy’s ancient and varied story is ultimately about how food powerfully underpins our sense of identity, security and comfort...

Mathew LyonsSeptember 13, 2024
The front cover of a 1904 edition of 'Beowulf.'
Review

Beowulf’s Scandinavia of the mind

Beowulf is a mysterious and misunderstood work of Anglo-Saxon literature, but, once delved into, it offers a rich glimpse into the worlds of early medieval Scandinavia...

Mathew LyonsAugust 5, 2024
A new housing estate, 1930.
Review

Gardens for all

The transformative impact of suburbia on the British landscape between the wars is often viewed in negative terms. But the development of the suburban garden is indivisible from th..

Mathew LyonsJuly 10, 2024
Six wives of Henry VIII.
Review

Six Tudor lives in their own right

Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr were distinct and individual women, each compelling in their own right, and not ..

Mathew LyonsJune 20, 2024
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) looking at stained glass at the Chapel of the Rosary, Vence.
Review

Matisse’s second life

Following a miraculous recovery in health, the ageing French painter Henri Matisse spent his last few months reflecting on sacred themes, and produced some of his most original wor..

Mathew LyonsApril 23, 2024
Teddy Boys on a street in Sheffield.
Review

The Teddy Boys’ two-fingered salute

The postwar revival of Edwardian fashion among the British youth was a rebellion against a world of rationing and restriction. ..

Mathew LyonsFebruary 29, 2024
Engraving of an alchemist's laboratory by Joan Galle.
Review

A magical Renaissance

Anthony Grafton's study of the occult and Renaissance thought offers powerful lessons in our age of disenchantment and technological progress...

Mathew LyonsJanuary 15, 2024
A portrait of Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673), the 17th century English aristocrat, philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, and playwright. Peter Lely, 1665.
Review

The many worlds of Margaret Cavendish

A new exploration of the extraordinary life and a remarkable mind of Margaret Cavendish, written with lucidity and verve...

Mathew LyonsSeptember 7, 2023
Roma in Britain.
Review

Europe’s forgotten people

Few people have been subject to so much mythologising as the Roma, though 600 years since their arrival in Europe, they remain little understood...

Mathew LyonsAugust 2, 2023