1941
The American National Art Gallery is opened
Many interesting things happened throughout history on March 17. Marcus Aurelius died in 180, leaving his worthless son Commodus as Roman Emperor. It is the birthday of golfer Bobby Jones, crooner Nat King Cole, and dancer Rudolf Nureyev. In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India. But none of these things gives me the opportunity to display wonderful works of art, so hats off to Andrew Mellon and other plutocrat donors who gave their country their collections of paintings and sculptures.
Here are some of my favourites from the collection housed in the neo-classical West Building. (Of the modern rubbish on display in the hideous East Building, we shall not speak.)
The Archangel Gabriel, c. 1430, by Masolino da Pasicale:
Portrait of a Lady, Titian, c. 1555
The Doge Alvise Mocenigo and Family with Madonna and Child, Tintoretto, c. 1573. (He, incidentally, is a character in the novel I am writing on Venetian skulduggery.)
Annunciation, Van Eyck, c. 1434
