Before entering the exhibition rooms, I heard art historian Lindsay Stainton saying to BBC News: “Good God. That’s a study for Cornard Wood, and all of these are early Gainsborough drawings.”
Good God indeed. What a Aha! Eureka moment!

A set of ten large paintings, displayed in one of the most recently redecorated rooms of Dublin Castle, has always made me gaze up with wonder because of the painting technique by which they were executed, but also the considerable (someone may say excessive) number of putti depicted.

With the old-favourite Italian saying in mind ‘Al cane manca solo la parola’ (that translates ‘if only dogs could speak’) and considering the life they lived, it is no surprise that the four-legged creatures featured in La mia storia nell’arte. Ritratti di cani memorabili have a story (or two) to tell. Four Italian authors have told their stories in a way that, though unconventional, makes the book differ from similar titles.

Until fairly recently, Portrait of Prince Alessandro Farnese was not one of the paintings I would have made a beeline for when calling in the National Gallery of Ireland. And yet it was the one I went looking for when the gallery finally re-opened its doors to visitors.

Diving into the Tate Britain’s collection online I discovered Interior of a Great House: The Drawing Room, East Cowes Castle by J.M.W. Turner. This I found intriguing and not only for its subject matter.

Coined by journalist Elizabeth Young, the expression refers to those pieces of writing that can be popped by bored or anxious readers the way bubble wraps are.

A review of Exhibiting Art in Georgian Ireland – The Society of Artists’ Exhibitions Recreated, an exhibition organised by the Irish Georgian Society to mark the restoration of the City Assembly House and to celebrate the Society of Artists in Ireland who erected the building over 250 years ago.

For the past two years I’ve looked back on the year that was ‘in art’, that is to say listing the places and the art exhibitions visited, but this time I feel I can’t leave out a couple of events that made the year truly memorable.

Visiting what once was the private home of banker Édouard André and artist Nélie Jacquemart in Paris.

Once upon a time I used to stroll around the streets of Dublin with a DSLR camera around my neck looking for attractive and unusual type fonts and styles. The town and its surroundings never failed to deliver.

Ooh Vienna! One single late afternoon walk around the Innere Stadt had me smitten with the city!

Every now and then, a notification that invites me to take photos and add them to Google Map appears in the upper left-hand corner of my mobile. I haven't turn it off yet because it amuses me more often than not.

Last year, in the space of just a couple of months, I came across a statue of a naked Napoleon twice.

Like the true festival lover that I am, last year in March I decided to go away for the long St Patrick’s weekend and flew west to Copenhagen.

I had visited the city before but I'd never had the opportunity to see the Cenacolo Vinciano, for this is the kind of attraction you are more likely to find in a list of works-of-art-to-see-before-you-die than an adventure generator for spontaneous travellers.