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Opening and Closing in July

A very eclectic mix of shows this month, and we're starting with an exhibition that's not art at all, but of vital interest to everyone. The Science Museum is investigating the Future of Food , looking at new advances in growing, making, cooking and eating it. On from July 24 to January 4, it's free, though you need to book. Oh, and you get to see this 3,500-year-old sourdough loaf..... At the Lowry in Salford, they're offering a double bill of Quentin Blake and Me & Modern Life: The LS Lowry Collection . The show about Blake, who's written or illustrated more than 500 books, looks aimed at a family audience, while the Lowry exhibition includes borrowed works, marking the Salford arts centre's 25th anniversary. On from July 19 to January 4, and entry is again free, though you need to book a timeslot.  Another anniversary this year is the 250th of the birth of Jane Austen; among the exhibitions around the country is one in Winchester, the city where she died ...
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Opening and Closing in December

The 17th- and 18th-century Palace of Versailles wasn't just wealth, pomp and opulence; it was also a place where France's kings encouraged and promoted scientific research and innovation. The story will be revealed in Versailles: Science & Splendour at the Science Museum in London from December 12 to April 21, featuring historic objects and art from Versailles and other French collections. 
A new free display at the National Gallery focuses on a painting that's going back on show after 10 years of conservation. Parmigianino: The Vision of Saint Jerome explores a work created by an artist seen by the Pope as another Raphael. December 5 to March 9. 

Can you deduce what a pronkstilleven is? It's a Dutch word, and the painting below is the perfect illustration. One of the Golden Age artists who specialised in the genre of sumptuous still lives was Jan Davidsz de Heem; he painted four enormous such scenes that are now being displayed together for the first time ever at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Picturing Excess: Jan Davidsz de Heem is open from December 3 to April 13, and it's free to get in.  
If you go off to Paris this month, you're sure of a big surprise. It might be a bit cold for a picnic, but (almost) every bear that ever there was will be gathered at the Musée des Arts décoratifs for My Teddy Bear, the history of everybody's favourite soft toy (and there are 400 bears in the MAD collection!). The show runs from December 4 to June 22. 

Last chance to see.... 

December 10 is the final day for the retrospective at the Royal Academy in London of the career of Michael Craig-Martin. He's best known for his colourful paintings of everyday objects, but his early conceptual-art period is a lot more fun that you might expect. 
And you have most of Advent to see some of the original artwork behind the iconic images of The Snowman and Father Christmas in Bloomin' Brilliant: The Life and Works of Raymond Briggs at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft in East Sussex. Other characters created by one of Britain's most beloved illustrators, including Fungus the Bogeyman, are also part of the fun, which ends on December 22. 

Images

Print showing ascent of a Montgolfier balloon, 1783. © Science Museum Group
Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-1683/84), A Banquet Still Life, 1643, Private collection, New York
Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941), Eye of the Storm, 2003, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. © Michael Craig-Martin. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd. Image courtesy of Gagosian
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