Breath of the Mediterranean

The slightly warmer blustery weather of late March found me en route for Compton Verney, the charming Robert Adam house in 120 acres of Warwickshire park landscaped by Capability Brown. Purchased in 1993 by the philanthropic Peter Moores Foundation, it was sympathetically remodelled and opened to the public as an art gallery in 2004. Among the permanent exhibits are fine collections of German and Neapolitan paintings, British portraits, Chinese bronzes and a remarkable holding of British Folk Art. (The last includes an Alfred Wallis painted tin tray and a splendid three-legged dog with prongs, which is a large toasting fork made from a single piece of wood.) There are also substantial galleries for temporary exhibitions, in which van Gogh is currently f