Currently obsessed with this painting of Doge Leonardo Loredan, by Giovanni Bellini. The play of light is extraordinary; look at the clearness of his face, and the soft shadows on the side of his head. But above all look at the silk robes (as noted on the National Gallery website, 'reserved for the most splendid occasions'). The realism of the patterns, and the soft folds in the garment, is such that you can almost feel it flow between your hands. And despite this vividness the tidiness is...

Deeply saddened to hear of the death of Sir Tom Stoppard, author of that dazzling, joyous, heartbreaking cocktail of wit and wisdom, Arcadia .* It changed my life when I first read it as a teenager, and it was Thomasina who inspired me to learn Latin. I feel that a quote from the play is appropriate here. The speech is in response to Thomasina as she grieves for the Library of Alexandria, but feels apt for this occasion too: 'Like travellers who must carry everything in their arms, and what...

I was reading Pedro Calderón de la Barca's play The Surgeon of His Honour, and came across a magnificent description of a horseman seen from afar, given by the rider's former lover (who has not yet recognised him). It made me think of a strikingly similar, and equally lovely, speech from Shakespeare (with a less tragic ending). The context of the Shakespeare is that the crown prince has been pretending to squander his youth, the better to surprise his enemies, phoenix-like. So they are wholly...