In York, the results of one man’s obsessive collecting reveals that culture is alive and well beyond the capital
On Friday, the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House in the Strand in London will finally reopen its doors after a long revamp, a moment of excitement not only for the art world – “It’s too much!” wrote one blissed-out critic in his preview – but for anyone who has found themselves missing such masterpieces as Goya’s Portrait of Don Francisco de Saavedra or Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
I can’t wait to gaze at the ceiling of the restored Great Room, for so long unaccountably partitioned. The heart lifts at the thought of seeing this huge space – until 1837, it played host to the Royal Academy summer exhibition – again suffused with light.
