At this year’s Turner Prize exhibition the dominant theme is somewhat mournful. But, for Robert Barry, the art hasn’t been this exciting in years.

Jacques Garcia was a boy when he saw the chateau of his dreams in Normandy. Having bought it years later, the interior designer has spent the last three decades making it fit for an Ancien Régime king, as Valérie Lapierre discovers.

‘Some prime-ministerial interventions are relatively fleeting, such as Thatcher’s fitted carpets, while others retain the presence of those that pass through the house.’ Juliet Carey looks at the many lives of Chequers, the British prime minister’s official country residence.

‘To reproduce might be to pastiche or parody, or it might be to render iconic: reproduction is, after all, the sincerest form of flattery. What makes his intention all the more enigmatic is Lichtenstein’s attitude to his own work.’ Charles Darwent on the genius of Roy Lichtenstein

From the 14th to the 18th centuries a game known as colf was played on the streets, fields and frozen lakes of the Low Countries. A painting of the sport by Hendrick Avercamp has been acquired jointly by the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis – and it’s one of Apollo’s acquisitions of the month

‘In her left hand Agatha holds a palm, the symbol of martyrdom. On the fingers of her right she balances a platter containing two disembodied breasts.’ Lisa Halliday reflects on what a fresco of the martyred saint in Milan has meant to her over the years.

‘For all the melancholy of the themes, the Turner Prize in 2026 feels more alive than it has in years, animated by the pleasures of stuff, buoyed by a sense of wonder at the world.’ Robert Barry reviews a display of work by the shortlisted artists.

Before establishing the Soho restaurant that bears his name, Andrew Edmunds was a keen collector of satirical British prints. Michael Delgado remembers what it was like to work in the same building, when artistic gossip was always on the menu.

Capturing the castle: interior decorator par excellence, Jacques Garcia has spent the last 30 years creating his own mini Versailles in Normandy, and his new book fêtes his achievement.

Maurizio Cattelan has teamed up with Avant Arte to release a miniature edition of his work ‘Novecento’ – giving Rakewell’s favourite horse sculpture a run for its money

Axel Rüger took over as director of the Frick Collection in New York last year. He talks to Apollo about what makes the Frick’s collection stand out – and the museums he looks to for inspiration.

In an exhibition of Tintoretto’s paintings in Paris, the artist ‘emerges not so much as a figure ahead of his time as out of time entirely’. Ben Street reviews ‘Timeless Tintoretto’ at the Musée Jacquemart-André.

‘In shawls, hats, wigs, fans, kimonos; in biker goggles, flapper hats and bandeaux; as Cleopatra, and in modern clothing designed by their friend Anita Pittoni – on every wall these women glow.’ Lucy Davies on the Wulz sisters’ photographs, now at the Estorick Collection in London

‘If artists such as Pollock had emptied their subconscious unmediated on to canvas, Johns would create an alphabet of what he called “things the mind already knows”.’ With a show at Guggenheim Bilbao closing on Monday, read Charles Darwent on Jasper Johns, the quiet American.

‘The archaeological site is slowly disappearing, as remains have been dug out by treasure hunters over the past quarter-century.’ Fatima Faizi reports on the struggle to conserve Jam and other ancient sites in Afghanistan

Korean masterpieces at the British Museum, 17th-century marvels from Kyiv, Hernan Bas’s disconcerting paintings and Surreal scenes by Sofía Bassi – made while she was in prison for murder – are among the highlights of what’s on in London during Frieze Week, away from the fair

Interior decorator to the world’s elite and designer of historic recreations at Versailles and the Louvre, Jacques Garcia has spent the last 30 years creating his own royal palace in Normandy. Valérie Lapierre pays court

From the 14th to the 18th centuries a game known as colf was played on the streets, fields and frozen lakes of the Low Countries. A painting of the sport by Hendrick Avercamp has been acquired jointly by the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis – and it’s one of Apollo’s acquisitions of the month

There’s a fine line between an exhibition that includes rich contextual material and one that’s just padded out, writes Hettie Judah.