Passion for British Art

Here's a gem: George Stubbs' Button (1763). A gem of an exhibition too: An American's Passion for British Art: Paul Mellon's Legacy opens in the Sackler Wing of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, on 20 October 2007 and continues until 27 January 2008. This exhibition celebrates the centenary of the birth of Paul Mellon, rich Yank, anglophile and all round good egg who had the impeccable taste to collect Brit. art when the quality was high and the prices were right. Stubbs, Turner, Constable; he bought the best of the best. The Yale Center for British Art has lent the RA major works from the Paul Mellon Collection to show us what we lost. I can't imagine Mellon buying the overpriced tripe that Royal Academicians and their hangers-on peddle today. Adult tickets £8, silver surfers £7 (87%), work-shy £3.