*****(yes it was that good)
Arrived early on a Sunday Morning to catch the last day of of Houghton Revisited, before the paintings are boxed and shipped back to the Hermitage. Was this a once in a lifetime chance to see these works in their original setting? Did Catherine the Great get the art bargain of the millennium when acquiring Sir Robert Walpole's extraordinary collection?...the answer is surely yes to both questions.
Whilst waiting for the doors to open a local woman complained she had driven twelve miles that morning and why wasn't there a restaurant open for coffee. Trumping this, a couple said they had come up from London the night before especially to see the exhibition. Then it was the turn of a short, immaculately dressed man, speaking nonchalantly in a New York drawl, they had come over the pond from New York just yesterday...all was silent. I smirked and continued to draw the swelling crowd.
