LONDON—Britannia rules! Although, these days, it rules the waves of the art world, rather than of the sea. The U.K.’s august capital boasts galleries where the latest currents of contemporary production can be explored, and museums where the great tides of artistic movements can be studied. In addition to the upcoming auctions, London is offering cultural attractions this summer that run the gamut from the genteel — a major retrospective of the Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse at the Royal Academy of Arts — to the cutting-edge — the debut of Japanese firm SANAA’s undulating, aluminum-roofed pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. While you’re there, check out one-of-a-kind hotels, rarified shopping options, and innovative, high-profile restaurants representing every corner of the globe.

Go:

Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair
WHAT: Ninety leading art and antique dealers from around the world are participating in the 75th edition of this fair.
WHEN: June 11–17, 2009
WHERE: The Great Room at Grosvenor House; Park Lane; 44-20/7399-8100; grosvenorfair.co.uk
HIGHLIGHTS: Representing diversity in both geographic origin and time period, the artifacts on view include everything from 16th-century oils and Edo-period Japanese screens to Deco jewelry and 1970s furniture. • One of the many dealers specializing in modern British art, Agnew’s is showing paintings and sculpture, including Helmet Head No. 3 (1960) by Henry Moore. • Newcomer Stephen Ongping Fine Arts brought drawings by Schiele, Monet, and Tissot, plus a one-of-a-kind letter from Manet to collector Albert Hecht illustrated with plums and cherries (see photo gallery).

Master Drawings London 2009
WHAT: Works on paper take the spotlight at 20 galleries.
WHEN: July 4–10, 2009
WHERE: Mayfair, St. James, and Bloomsbury
HIGHLIGHTS: Lowell Libson will be showcasing drawings and watercolors by Thomas Gainsborough, William Henry Hunt, and others (3 Clifford Street; 44-20/7734-8686; lowell-libson.com). • Look for “Graffiti Drawings,” a series of erotic sketches by Keith Vaughan, and 20 watercolors by James Henry Nixon at Abbott and Holder (30 Museum Street; 44-20/7637-3981; abbottandholder.co.uk). • “In Between the Lines,” an exhibit of works by contemporary British artists such as Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin and Claude Heath, is on view at Trinity Contemporary (29 Bruton Street; 44-20/7493-4916; trinitycontemporary.com).

Stay:

The Rookery
Tucked away in a tiny lane not far from the Barbican and St. Paul’s Cathedral (and, just across the Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern), this 33-room boutique hotel is unabashedly Old World. Enormous mahogany beds, wood-paneled walls, Regency-style giltwood mirrors, and antique bathroom fixtures add up to a quintessentially English experience. Rebecca Wilson, director of development at the Saatchi Gallery, likes sister location Hazlitt’s, situated in a “beautiful Georgian house” close to Covent Garden and the designer shops on Bond Street.
Peter’s Lane, Cowcross Street
44-20/7336-0931
Rates: $285-$810
rookeryhotel.com

Brown’s Hotel
London-based artist Keith Coventry praises the “sedate charm” of this storied establishment in posh Mayfair. The first hotel to open in London in 1837 — historic VIP guests include Napoleon III, Rudyard Kipling, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — Brown’s is the ne plus ultra in luxury. The sumptuous guest rooms were given contemporary polish in 2003, thanks to a multimillion-dollar renovation by hotelier Rocco Forte.
Albemarle Street
44-20/7493-6020
Rates: $780-$5,260
brownshotel.com

The Zetter
If baronial trappings are not your cup of tea, check out the Zetter in Clerkenwell, a favorite of Matt Carey-Williams, director and head of sales at Haunch of Venison. The streamlined, Scandinavian-style interiors, punctuated by brightly upholstered Louis XIV chairs and quirky large-scale prints, are straight out of the Brit style bible Living Etc.
St. John’s Square, 86-88 Clerkenwell Road
44-20/7324-4444
Rates: $245-$565
thezetter.com