Exhibition of the week Portrait of the Artist

The Queen’s Gallery, London SW1 (0303-123 7301, www.royalcollection.org.uk). Until 17 April

The new exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace “takes us on a delightful trawl through the vaults of the Royal Art Collection, digging out oddities and rarities that illuminate the changing role of the artist”, said Mark Hudson in The Daily Telegraph. It is a “rich” and “absorbing” show that moves from the 15th century to the present day, “democratically” mixing “excellent” self-portraits by the likes of Rembrandt, Rubens, Dürer and David Hockney with paintings, prints, sculptures and drawings of artists captured by friends and relatives. Yet, despite the wealth of famous names on display, the “real stars” of the show are often the smaller works by lesser-known artists. Rather than framing the history of art as a “procession of genius”, the exhibition gives “a pungent sense of painters and printmakers getting on with their craft”.

“Inevitably, ego is the dominant theme of the show,” said Bendor Grosvenor in the FT. A case in point is a Rubens self-portrait given by the artist to Charles I, in which he presents himself as an “assured, immaculately presented gentleman”, his bald spot concealed by a large hat. Yet a good number of the works here present an altogether more humble vision of the artist. A pastel self-portrait by Rosalba Carriera – who at the time was feted across Europe – is “disarmingly modest”. Rembrandt is represented by one of the best of his characteristically “direct” and “unflattering” self-portraits. Lucian Freud presents an etching that is “dark with self-disapproval”. Darker still is Cristofano Allori’s Judith with the

Head of Holofernes, in which the artist depicts himself as the decapitated warrior; his former lover is cast in the role of Judith, holding the head by the hair.

Thanks to the different tastes of different monarchs, this is a show that “keeps you on your toes”, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. Rubens, unexpectedly, also provides a rare moment of “genuine honesty”. In a “scrap” of self-portraiture scrawled onto the corner of a page, the artist shows himself as “podgy”, “ageing” and “rheumy-eyed”, as if startled by his own appearance in a mirror. Elsewhere, we see Hockney bearing an expression so “glum” that it “belongs on the face of a cancer surgeon”, and a “marvellous” double portrait of the famously “odd” Flemish Renaissance painter Joos van Cleve and his wife. Best of all is a “spectacularly original” self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi from the 1630s, showing the artist at work. It is a “masterpiece” in front of which I would “happily be cemented for the rest of my mortal journey”.

Broadcaster Chris Tarrant, the former host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, picks his favourite books. His own new book, Chris Tarrant’s Extreme Railway Journeys (John Blake £20), accompanies the Channel 5 TV series

The Last Don by Mario Puzo, 1996 (Arrow £8.99). I rarely watch films twice, but I’ve seen Puzo’s Godfather trilogy over and over again. The Last Don is in the same brilliant vein. An old, wise but ruthless crime boss destroys his enemies and creates further bloody gang warfare. Puzo depicts a treacherous, savage world where everybody’s life can be bought and wiped out.

Life by Keith Richards, 2010 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £8.99). The ultimate rock’n’roll book, by a rock’n’roll survivor who has seen it all – the tours, the sex, the drugs, the arrests, the crazed fans and even a murder. And he’s still out there, night after night, loving it. A massive, candid book by the greatest rocker of them all.

Catastrophe by Max Hastings, 2013 (William Collins £9.99). This is the definitive history of the First World War. The millions who were needlessly slaughtered and the mudbaths of France and Belgium are movingly described.

Walking with the Wounded

by Mark Mccrum, 2011 (out of print). In 2011, four horrifically injured soldiers set out to walk 200 frozen miles to the North Pole, to raise money for injured servicemen and women. Mccrum’s book tells the story of this expedition. Their pain and hardship is almost too harrowing to read about at times, but their courage and determination is inspirational.

The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth, 2013 (Corgi £7.99). A relevant, topical story of the secret war against fanatical international terrorism. As always, Forsyth’s tale is intricately weaved and meticulously researched.

The Hanging Club by Tony Parsons, 2016 (Century £12.99). I’ve always admired Tony Parsons’s writing. This is a gripping crime novel about the hunt for a gang of vigilante killers who some believe to be heroes. A brilliant plot and a real nail-biter.