Lily Allen brings a smile to the National Portrait Gallery

Your digest of the top events, art news and gossip       Get more great writing every day – from just £1 a week     Canaletto & Bellotto Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna | 24 Mar–6 Sept Uncle and nephew made quite a team – until the student became a master       Hurvin Anderson Tate Britain, London | 26 Mar–23 Aug The many layers of the painter's oeuvre are revealed in a major retrospective       Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art Victoria and Albert Museum, London | 28 Mar–8 Nov Quite apart from partnering with Cocteau and Dalí, the designer had an artistry all of her own       The Gift of Drawing: Cy Twombly Menil Collection, Houston | 27 Mar–9 Aug The American painter and sculptor also left a formidable paper trail         Hundreds of participants in this year's Venice Biennale have called for Israel's pavilion to be cancelled | the US Congress has passed a bill that makes it easier for heirs to recover Nazi-looted art | the Museum Rietberg in Zurich is transferring ownership of 11 objects from the historic Kingdom of Benin to Nigeria | a painting by El Greco has been discovered beneath a forgery of the Old Master's work in the Vatican | Timothy Taylor will close its New York gallery in April | in appointments, Helen Legg has been named artistic director of the Royal Academy of Arts – and in departures, Madeleine Grynsztejn is stepping down as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago         Lily Allen brings a smile to the National Portrait Gallery         SPONSORED CONTENT FROM     Sixty years ago this week, on 20 March 1966, the FIFA World Cup trophy – the Jules Rimet Cup – was stolen from an exhibition at Central Hall in Westminster, London. It had been missing for a week when a collie named Pickles found the trophy wrapped in newspaper beneath a hedge. The episode seems almost farcical but was a sharp reminder that valuable objects are always vulnerable to sudden acts of theft, no matter how tightly guarded they seem. Some artworks are stolen because they are famous; others gain new levels of fame because they are stolen. All major institutions have preventative measures in place to prevent heists, but as recent events at the Louvre have demonstrated, these measures do not always work. Museums that fail to recover vanished works might try to downplay the loss as much as possible – or respond by making absence visible. This week we examine four works that have been the target of high-profile heists, or commemorate stolen art that has never been recovered. This is part of our 'Four things to see' series, which offers you a new way in to some of the world's greatest collections, sponsored by Bloomberg Connects: the free arts and culture app.       On Friday 13 March, to coincide with the opening of the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht, Edward Behrens, editor of Apollo, chaired a discussion presented by ARTE Generali with Apollo at the De Groote Sociëteit to discuss the role of insurance in the art world. The panellists were Christopher Maxwell (Chair and Eloise W. Martin Curator of Applied Arts of Europe, Art Institute of Chicago), collector Jan Six XI and Valentina Sabucco (Manager, Security and Protection Advice for Arts Council England). Click here to read a summary of the panellists' thoughts on how best to safeguard art in an ever more volatile climate.     More from Apollo Current issue | Advertise | Podcasts   View this email in your browser   Follow us Apollo Magazine, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP. All Articles and Content Copyright © 2026 by Apollo Magazine. All Rights Reserved. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at any time. To ensure our emails are delivered to your inbox, please add Apollo to your email address book and safe-sender list.