Daniela, 2009, by Catherine Opie. Photograph: © Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Seoul; Thomas Dane Gallery View image in fullscreen Daniela, 2009, by Catherine Opie. Photograph: © Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Seoul; Thomas Dane Gallery Art Weekly newsletter Art and design New faces, fresh memories and a grand day out with Aardman – the week in art Arresting portraits from Catherine Opie, exploring the past with paint and the geniuses of British animation unpack their secrets – all in your weekly dispatch
Jonathan Jones Fri 7 Aug 2026 13.00 CEST Last modified on Fri 7 Aug 2026 13.01 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google Exhibition of the week Catherine Opie: To Be Seen Powerful photographs that put people before you heroically, on tour from London’s National Portrait Gallery. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, from 8 August
Earth Matters Artists including Tania Kovats and Alberta Whittle explore the legacy of the 18th-century geologist James Hutton. Inverleith House, Edinburgh, until 1 November
Vestiges Paintings by the talented and imaginative Laura Footes feature in this group show about memory. Annely Juda Fine Art, London, until 28 August
Inside Aardman The geniuses of British animation invite you for a slice of wensleydale in the summer holidays. Young V&A, London, until 15 November
Ffasiwn Young people work with artists Clémentine Schneidermann and Charlotte James to deconstruct fashion. National Museum Cardiff until 4 April 2027
Virgin and Child with Saints by Lorenzo Lotto, 1505
View image in fullscreen Photograph: Niday Picture Library/Alamy Lotto is a wondrous portrait painter, and that feel for faces comes through here in the way he brings a gathering of saints to life. The two old white-bearded men at the left of the Virgin Mary – Saint Jerome and Saint Peter – are huddled as if they’ve been conversing passionately: while Jerome looks broodingly at Jesus, perhaps meditating on his destiny of crucifixion, Peter’s strong, almost angry face looks out at us. But the biggest departure from convention is Saint Francis of Assisi in his rough brown robe on the other side of Mary. He’s often shown as humble and gentle but here he looks more confrontational and impassioned. The female saint in the shadows hasn’t been identified: she is lost in introspection and melancholy in a way that holds you. This ability to give people intense, unexpected, mysterious character was to make Lotto one the greatest portraitists of all time. In this early work he sets out his wares and scouts for commissions. He also shows off his ability to paint pastorals like his contemporaries Giorgione and Titian: two woodsmen are chopping down a tree in the background, as if to prepare the cross on which Christ will die. This violent image is ironically set on a calm, green wooded hill under a stilled blue sky with silky white clouds. It’s a lovely vista but portraiture, not landscape would prove to be Lotto’s thing. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
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