Restoration ribaldry, brains bonanza and Claude Monet – the week in art

Exhibition of the Week: The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned The decadence of the Restoration is part of our national folklore. After the 17th century English revolution overthrew and beheaded Charles I, the Puritans tried to impose their fundamentalist theocracy . But it never took hold of popular culture, and after the death of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell , the son of the executed king was welcomed back as Charles II. In his reign, the people got their maypoles back while at court, the likes of Nell Gwyn participating in a culture of robust hedonism that buried the memory of Roundhead misery. That's the legend – but how true is it? Absolutely all true, according to this exhibition reconstructing the lives of Charles II's mistresses through art and biographical documents. Glamorous portraits by Peter Lely and his contemporaries make the saucy world of Samuel Pepys 's diaries visible. Highlights include galleries of "court beauties" by Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller, as well as some of the earliest British nudes . This is a nice way to mark the diamond jubilee, revelling in how much fun the monarchy has brought to British history – sometimes quite naughty fun. • Hampton Court Palace from 5 April until 30 September Also opening Brains That's right, an exhibition of brains, including that of Albert Einstein. • Wellcome Collection , London NW1, until 17 June Damien Hirst The shark, the flies, the cow, the controversy. Will Tate Modern survive the hoo-ha? It's all "con art" for some. Gets you going, though. Tate Modern , London SE1, from 4 April until 9 September Remote Control Television gets its own show – about how artists, from Richard Hamilton to Simon Denny, represent and use it. • ICA , London, from 2 April until 10 June Animal Inside Out The anatomy of animals laid bare as natural history takes on Hirst. • Natural History Museum , London SW7, from 6 April until 16 September Masterpiece of the Week The Virgin and Child Before a Firescreen, follower of Robert Campin, c1440 In the waning middle ages , an unknown painter who must have been taught by the Netherlandish master Robert Campin imagines the Virgin Mary breastfeeding Christ at home. It is a comfortable home, a vision of the Virgin's palace domesticated to delight rich burgher merchants. On a wooden settle are rich red silk cushions. A round firescreen of latticed cane mutes the heat from a roaring hearth, and also serves as Mary's halo – a brilliant conflation of the spiritual and the material. Through the window, with its meticulously detailed wooden shutter, a townscape with tall houses and a church spire transports us to a cosy medieval community. Mary looks down at her infant, while beside her is a richly illuminated Book of Hours . The home made holy, the divine domesticated . • National Gallery , London Image of the week What we learned this week What famous photographers class as their worst shots ever Why Anthony Caro is steeling the show From tonz of swagger to babysitting dogs, what Gillian Wearing thinks the signs of the times are Even more about the best spring artworks What a Freudian slip really looks like Lastly Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Check out our Tumblr Sign up for our Art Weekly newsletter