Boodle Hatfield LLP

Museums and galleries are facing uncertain futures due to months of closures, long-term cancellations, and new hygiene regulations. Art Fund, the London-based charitable organisation, will now offer £2 million in grants in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which will help this industry recover after lockdown. “The future of our museums and galleries, which are so vital to society, is far from certain,” announced Jenny Waldman, the director of Art Fund.

A long-lost Medieval masterpiece has been discovered hanging above an elderly woman’s kitchen stove in northern France. When it goes up for auction in October, the painting is estimated to fetch around €6 million (£5.3 million). “It was considered special by the family, but they thought it was an icon,” explained Philomene Wolf, the auctioneer who found the artwork during a house clearance in Compiegne this summer.

St Fagans National Museum of History has been awarded the prestigious title of Art Fund museum of the year 2019. On Wednesday, the Cardiff museum was praised for its “exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement”. The title also comes with a £100,000 prize, which is the biggest single art prize in Britain.