There is, of course, the problem of distance.
I never did get close enough to Richard Dadd's "Oberon and Titania" to see
it as Dadd -- miopic and quite crazy -- did, but I did manage once to get
into the National Gallery when it wasn't crowded (christ, are the attendants
there armed, and allowed to use Lethal Force?) and manage to stare at
Botticelli's "Mystic Nativity" from six inches from the canvas.
You have to, honest.
It was a bit the same with the Cranachs -- one floor up in an airport mall,
and no-one was bothered.
So you could peer at the bloody things from really close up to get the
detail.
The both of them, father and son, were really neat, IMHO.
Robin
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