The history of still life painting with oil paints

Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting

Satirical, critical, talented – William Hogarth was one of the most original British artists of the 18th Century. The son of a poor schoolmaster made a name for himself as a portraitist and became best known for his satirical etchings. In strange and graphic tales, such as A Harlot's Progress, he denounced the social and political injustices of his time. Often pirated, Hogarth fought for the first image copyright law. Together with illustrators and writers from today, Andrew Graham-Dixon explores Hogarth's birth city London and recounts the life and work of a man who is regarded as the forerunner of modern caricature.

Hogarth's Progress

Andrew Graham-Dixon uncovers the work of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the painter and poet who reinvented the Victorian ideal of female beauty - and who dug up his wife's coffin to retrieve poems he had buried with her.

Rossetti: Sex, Drugs and Oil Paint

Andrew Graham-Dixon takes a break from his art critic day job to immerse himself in the art, rituals and practices of the Japanese warrior cult. Will he achieve his dream to be like a samurai?

I, Samurai

Documentary in which Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals how the Medici family transformed Florence through sculpture, painting, and architecture and created a world where masterpieces fetch millions today.

The Medici: Makers of Modern Art

An investigation into the life and death of the great Baroque artist Caravaggio, who died in 1610 aged only 39 after a life full of violent incident. Art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon travels from Rome to Naples, then to Sicily and Malta, where Caravaggio died four years after being exiled from Rome for killing a man in a street fight.

Who Killed Caravaggio?

Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the ancient Christian practice of preserving holy relics and the largely forgotten art form that went with it, the reliquary. Fragments of bone or fabric placed inside a bejewelled shrine, a sculpted golden head or even a life-sized silver hand were, and still are, objects of religious devotion believed to have the power to work miracles. The documentary features interviews with art historian Sister Wendy Beckett and Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum.

Treasures of Heaven

Edward Burra (1905-76) was one of the most elusive British artists of the 20th century. Long underrated, his reputation has been suddenly rehabilitated, with the first major retrospective of his work for 25 years taking place in 2011 and record-breaking prices being paid for his work at auction. In this film, the first serious documentary about Edward Burra made for television, leading art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the remarkable story of his life. It follows Burra from his native town of Rye to the jazz clubs of prohibition-era New York, to the war-torn landscapes of the Spanish Civil War and back to England during the Blitz. It shows how Burra's increasingly disturbing and surreal work deepened and matured as he experienced at first hand some of the most tragic events of the century. Through letters and interviews with those who knew him, it paints an entertaining portrait of a true English eccentric.

I Never Tell Anybody Anything: The Life and Art of Edward Burra

Andrew Graham-Dixon, a leading UK art critic, crosses the Atlantic to explore the story of American art.