Art lover …

… Bryan Appleyard — Gabriele Finaldi: The Catford Catholic Connoisseur. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

As we walk round the galleries, one thing is clear: Finaldi genuinely loves this place. He doesn’t so much tell stories, as Penny did, about the works he picks out; rather, he rhapsodises. Peering at the great 14th-century Wilton Diptych, he is plainly entranced. “That theme of the beautifully tooled goldwork carried into the robes of the kings, these beautiful open-winged and then white harts, surrounded by emblems of the Plantagenets in the gold robe of the young Richard II… It’s the whole universe, bringing it all together into this tiny, concentrated image of extraordinary power and beauty.”