Wishing I had the confidence of the first-year undergrad I once taught, who, despite having never read Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, wrote an entire essay on it, which concluded: ‘and maybe even the darkest hearts can still let a little light in after all?’

As if the window really has been opened. A lot to take in. First image of the completed restoration of Johannes Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. ⁦Released today by Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden via ⁦The Art Newspaper⁩

We have just framed two recently restored van Dyck Portraits in near identical frames. One original 17th century Italian and one a copy which I hand run and carved and Amanda gilded and finished.