Henri Fantin-Latour

County Durham in the northeast of England has been in the news today, because BBC royal watchers have traced Kate Middleton's ancestry back to Durham coal miners (CLICK). If this news tempts you to zoom off to County Durham for an Easter break or make plans for a summer holiday there, take note that The Bowes Museum in the market town of Barnard Castle has just opened an interesting art exhibition which continues until 9 October: Painting Flowers: Fantin-Latour and the Impressionists. This is the first major exhibition of his work in the UK (title link). Around 30 of his beautiful still-life paintings are on show, alongside paintings by Renoir, Courbet, and Fantin-Latour’s wife Victoria Dubourg, among others. It looks a treat.