Dutiful seamstresses and images of the funereal in a first major retrospective for the Victorian painter commissioned by the Queen and revered at the Royal Academy.

Clad in the Queen's uniform, a group of rowers will monitor swans as part of an ancient tradition on the Thames this month. An exhibition devoted to them explains more.

Made by the Italian craftsman during the late 17th and early 18th century, an alluring new exhibition features 20 of the finest string instruments ever made.

In the second part of our series on the exhibit swap going on between ten venues, we get the inside track on amazing artefacts including the earliest lamp.

Archaeologists say they came "within 40 minutes" of raising the German plane on the Kent seabed on Sunday, and remain hopeful of completing the lift within 24 hours.

Aiming to follow in the footsteps of alumni such as Julien Macdonald and Rachel Whiteread, this year's Brighton graduates deploy swings, trees and bouncy castles.

Bad weather has hindered the daring bid to save the only surviving World War II Luftwaffe Dornier bomber from the seabed off the coast of Kent.

Rolling gaits, whistle-toting officers, strong-legged gunners and dodgy teeth: here are some of the reconstructions of the Mary Rose's crew, compiled by forensic experts.

Hypnosis, the Loch Ness Monster, images of curious objects by Leonardo Da Vinci and Dürer's 16th century rhinoceros drawings all feature in a show of wonder in Margate.

The Ashmolean Museum has permanently acquired John Everett Millais' famous portrait of John Ruskin thanks to the Arts Council Acceptance in Lieu scheme.

For Museums at Night Amy Strike heads through the bluebell-scented woodlands of Hatchalnds Park for a bat walk in search of Barbastelles and Pipistrelles...

Caspar David Friedrich, Albrecht Dürer, Photoshop and a revisited Tokyo childhood inspire Fiona Rae's exhibition at Towner - not to mention "ludicrous but gnomic" elements.

Created by leading contemporary artists in an exploration of beauty and fragility, a panda-based collection of works in Woking will support conservation efforts by the WWF.

Marc Wilson's project to photograph World War II defences has resulted in a thought-provoking series of ethereal "documentary landscapes" at Fort Nelson.

The continuous spray which has protected the timbers of the Mary Rose for three decades has been turned off ahead of a five-year drying-out process for the famous ship.

Having been mastered using retro effects in Las Vegas, an album of electronica is about to go on sale in support of educational plans at The National Museum of Computing.

Shakespeare's First Folio from 1623 - containing Macbeth, Julius Caesar and more - has been made freely available to leaf through online for the first time.

The Royal Engineers Museum in Chatham is inviting the public to explore the 80% of its collection which lies hidden within what it mysteriously terms the Eighth Corridor.

Did curators in Brighton have one eye on the forecast when they were formulating their new Ice Age exhibition? Sarah Jackson takes a look at cave bear skulls, hand axes and orangutan jaws.

Watch the acclaimed contemporary sculptor talk about her new commission - a metaphor for the resurrection above the altar of St Dunstan's in Mayfield.

The German sculptor, who spent World War II in exile, fills the Oxford gallery with a series of monumental bronzes and works in plaster.

More than 3,000 photographs taken by famed American photographer Lee Miller will be published online in a new image library created by the Lee Miller Archive.

Ahead of a Portsmouth Historic Dockyard exhibition in 2014 telling the story of the Royal Navy, organisers want to hear about a colonial force established for 16 years.

A metal detectorist says finding a hoard of 3rd century silver coins which are about to go on show in Sussex was "like a dream."

Marking the 150th anniversary of the tube, the London Transport Museum has a year of events and Henley's River and Rowing Museum looks back at classic poster designs.

New year brings a new batch of art exhibitions from galleries around the UK, with the most exciting work on show in the Midlands and the South East.

The Finds Manager for the Canterbury Archaeological Trust recalls the phonecall which led to the excavation of a Prehistoric helmet from a field in Kent.

Turner Contemporary welcomes a trio of paintings by Jeffery Camp, Ivon Hitchens and Thekam GH, two of which complement its famous coastal panaorma.

Sixty-one years after it was made for an atomic research department, the "charmed life" of the 2.5-tonne Harwell Dekatron has found its latest home.

Thousands of people have helped a "once-in-a-lifetime" fundraising appeal to unite five miles of the famous White Cliffs, raising £1.2 million in less than four months.

A rare UK showing of the L'Hourloupe series by French painter and father of l'art brut, the art of marginalised people, is not to be missed, says Mark Sheerin.

Satellite events compete with Brighton Photo Biennial for venues and attention in the growing sibling event, which once again finds a hub at Phoenix Brighton.

An extraordinary 17-year project putting cameras into the hands of Brazilian street kids is getting its first gallery showing at Fabrica for the Brighton Photo Biennial.

A display of Anna Dillon's landscapes at the River and Rowing Museum reveals an artist with a love and an understanding of the 20th century Britsh landscape tradition.

This weekend is the last chance to see the landscape work of the post War English landscape painter Harold Mockford and his eerie landscapes of Sussex.

Modern Art Oxford is hosting a major solo exhibition of celebrated French artist Jean-Luc Moulène with an eclectic collection of works from the 1990s to the present.

Literary-based tours will allow visitors to discover more Hardy, Dickens, Shakespeare and fellow great writers who were inspired by England's historic Churches.

After being held at various Ministry of Defence bases since World War II, an enormous V-2 rocket has been restored and put on show at the Royal Engineers Museum.

Brighton Photo Fringe has revealed its programme of photography and lens-based media in venues across Brighton and Hove, Portslade, St Leonards and Hastings.

As part of the London 2012 Paralympic Flame Festival celebration, Stoke Mandeville tells the story of the Paralympic Movement from 1948 to modern day.

The paintings seduce while the drawings excite in a show of virtuoso technique and wide sphere of reference. Mark Sheerin takes a look.

An International Olympic Committee commission sees artists from around the world reflect on the Olympic values in film works showing in Bexhill and Manchester.

A tenacious eight-month campaign by the Ashmolean Museum has ended in triumph, raising £7.83 million, turning Oxford into a leading centre for the study of Impressionist painting and allowing one of Manet's most important paintings to tour the nation.

A rare surviving example of one of Hitler’s infamous V-2 rockets is to be restored, re-assembled and displayed at the Royal Engineers Museum Library and Archive.

As Chichester's new £7 million centre opens one of the finest collections of Roman artefacts in the country, see some star exhibits ranging from fertility dolls to Roman Baths.

A fantastic new three-storey museum with remains of Roman Baths and an enormous ground floor mosaic await visitors to Chichester when a new £7 million museum opens in the Sussex city on Sunday.

The National Trust has launched a £1.2 million appeal to secure the last remaining mile of the world famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent.

Pallant's summer programme features four linked exhibitions exploring art and music with a special display celebrating the career of the influential British artist.

Northern Canada, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Peru and the Amazon feature in a global journey shaped by hundreds of local children as part of London 2012.

The National Trust property in East Sussex is the first port of call for the Unravelled project, where a dozen makers have been invited to intervene.