A drop-dead Da Vinci and Magritte's stash of snaps – the week in art

The ‘beer-mat Banksy’, 130 photos by René Magritte, Leonardo,the magic of Mantegna and more – all in your weekly dispatch

Exhibition of the week

Soul of a Nation
David Hammons, Betye Saar and Frank Bowling are among the many important artists in this epic and intense journey through black art in a racially divided America. The civil rights era saw similar rifts of race to those tearing at the soul of the US today. Here is how the struggle for justice played out in art that time.
• Tate Modern, London, until 22 October.

Also this week

Whales: Beneath the Surface
This is a terrific voyage into the secret world of one of Earth’s living wonders.
• Natural History Museum, London, until 28 February.

Beyond Caravaggio
Not many works of art ever made can compare with Caravaggio’s paintings for truth, immediacy, power or compassion.
• Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, until 24 September.

The Encounter
Hans Holbein’s portraits and a drop-dead Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece are the highlights of this slightly rambling tour of old master drawings.
• National Portrait Gallery, London, until 22 October.

Giacometti
Last chance to see this profound and beautiful survey of a modern great.
• Tate Modern, London, until 10 September.

Masterpiece of the week

The Introduction of the Cult of Cybele at Rome (1505-6) by Andrea Mantegna

Mantegna was court artist to the rulers of the lakeside city of Mantua in northern Italy. His monuments there include an amazing illusory ceiling painting of a skylight thronged with putti and his own fine house, modelled imaginatively on Roman architecture. Mantegna was one of the most erudite Renaissance artists in his sincere study of ancient Rome. Like his masterpiece The Triumphs of Caesar, at Hampton Court Palace, this depiction of the ancient mystical religion of Cybele is closely based on his own reading of classical sources. It mimics the look of a Roman sarcophagus, with the procession painted to look like stone carving – but Mantegna magically combines this grey relief with swirling red and yellow faux-marble. This is one of the very last works of a true giant of the Renaissance.
• National Gallery, London

Image of the week

René Magritte and The Barbarian (Le Barbare) (1938)

A stash of 130 photographs by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte have gone on display for the first time at Latrobe gallery in Victoria, Australia. This one shows Magritte with a painting of the French crime fiction hero Fantômas – a piece sadly destroyed in the second world war.

What we learned this week

North Korea’s latest propaganda missiles have taken aim at the US

The best summer photos capture moments in the sun

… but you need chemistry to create good science photos

Ramiro Gomez puts the Chicano into California art

Good design has social benefits

Julie Cockburn is embroidering pictures of the past

Mystical symbolism reveals hidden messages in French art

Rinko Kawauchi makes the everyday look sublime

Mario Testino is selling his photo collection to help his Peruvian museum

You can now take an architectural walking trail on the Kent coast

West Midlands art lovers are searching for the ‘beer-mat Banksy’

A jailed forger is fined £1

Celine Marchbanks recorded her mother’s final days

Britain’s National Gallery raised £12m to keep a painting by Canaletto’s nephew

Get involved

Book now for two forthcoming Guardian masterclass events. On Saturday 26 August, join Jonathan Jones for a morning tour of the Wallace Collection, London, on which he will talk about how to interpret some of his favourite works of art, and point out some of the secrets of their creation. And on 24 September, art scholar Edgar Tijhuis will lead a full-day course on how to write about art and make money from it at Kings Place, London. Book now to secure your place.

Our A-Z of Art series continues – share your art with the theme V for value.

And check out the entries we selected for the theme U for underwater.

Don’t forget

To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign