Elizabeth
The story of Elizabeth I, from childhood to triumphant majesty, retold four centuries after her death, in objects, contemporary documents and paintings.
National Maritime Museum, SE10, until Sept 14
Monet: The Seine and the Sea, 1878-83
A guaranteed crowd-puller that looks at a neglected period of the artist’s career. This is the first exhibition in the refurbished Academy building and consists of some 90 paintings, including the macabre portrait of Monet’s first wife, in her funeral clothes.
Royal Scottish Academy, from Wed until Oct 26
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Peter Blake: Commercial Art
Pop art, of which Blake was a pioneer, demolished traditional barriers between “fine” and “commercial” art. This survey of posters and other designs commissioned during the past 40 years shows him at his best.
London Institute Gallery, W1, until Sept 11
A Painted Menagerie
The animal in art, 1600-1930, is the subtitle of a show guaranteed to attract the British public and interest children during the holidays. These appealing, uncomplicated paintings (by, among others, Gainsborough and Laura Knight) share the space with a show of contemporary art about man’s often controversial relationship with animals.
Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, until Aug 23
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Shakespeare in Art
This imaginatively conceived exhibition, which focuses solely on 18th- and 19th-century painting (some of it hilariously bad), is in itself a mini art history, from rococo to romanticism, with pictures by, among others, Fuseli, Blake and Holman Hunt.
Dulwich Picture Gallery, SE21, until Oct 19