Was the fiddler framed? How Nero may have been a good guy after all

He was a demonic emperor who stabbed citizens at random and let Rome burn. Or was he? We go behind the scenes at a new show exploding myths about the ancient world’s favourite baddie

Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency review – how energy shaped the way we built the world

Barnabas Calder’s engaging study of construction and its environmental impact is at its best when it doesn’t dwell on ancient masterpieces

Group think: why art loves a crowd

With social gatherings a possibility once again, Olivia Laing considers the crowd in art and literature

Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser review – a wonderful tumble down the rabbit hole

Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonInspiring everything from Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit to Heston Blumenthal’s mock turtle soup, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland continues to feel delightfully modern

‘We got shot at’ – the outrageous life of Jayne County, the first trans rock’n’roller

She partied with Warhol and fronted a band called The Electric Chairs who were too shocking even for punk. As her extraordinary tell-all memoir is republished, Jayne County relives one of music’s most astonishing sagas

Barry Windsor-Smith is back: ‘Monsters has been a slow and difficult experience’

After 35 years of work, the feted comic creator has published Monsters, a drama featuring Nazi science and psychic powers. He talks about Marvel and how his drawing style has evolved

Tintin heirs lose legal battle over artist’s Edward Hopper mashups

French artist Xavier Marabout wins case and €10,000 in damages after Moulinsart contacted galleries displaying his art

‘We won’t be bouncing back’ – the unsettling truth about the big reopening

Next week, after 14 months of closure and despair, the arts are reawakening. But the damage caused by Covid runs deep – and recovery is by no means assured

Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal review – Proustian evocation of the belle époque

The potter and memoirist’s exacting study of a Parisian family’s collection of art objects is an exquisite coda to The Hare With Amber Eyes

Gio Ponti: the real charmer of Italian design

From the graceful Pirelli tower to his classic super-light chair, the Milanese architect’s life and work are celebrated in a huge new tome

How Holbein left clever clue in portrait to identify Henry VIII’s queen

New evidence shows miniature long held to be of Catherine Howard could depict Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves

Angela O’Keeffe on Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles – and engaging with the art of awful men

The writer’s ingenious debut Night Blue is narrated by Australia’s most infamous and triumphant canvas: Blue Poles

Britain’s best young architects raise their sights

The latest survey of the UK’s top emerging practices reveals style, wit and a desire to prioritise diversity and the climate crisis over wealthy clients…

On my radar: Tai Shani’s cultural highlights

The video artist on a film about the suppression of communism, the mysterious band Sault and the florist who brightened her lockdown

‘It blew our minds’: the surfers who braved sharks to ride Africa’s mightiest wave

Forget the blond California stereotypes. New book Afrosurf captures Africa’s overlooked surf culture – and celebrates its heroes, who’d ride colossal waves at beaches they were often banned from