Out of sight

There are some things television can do which no other medium can manage. Take one of those little-noticed programmes, Hidden Paintings on BBC4. It’s presented by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, the chap with the King Charles spaniel hair, who used to do Changing Rooms, in which people found parts of their house redecorated while they were away, causing them to fly into a rage.

The theme is fine works of art which for various reasons aren’t on public view. This week LLB considered David Inshaw, still with us, whose two best-known paintings are both hidden. One, ‘Our Days Were a Joy’, shows an enigmatic young woman in a graveyard. The technique is a beguiling cross between pointillism and photography. It is owned by Bristol Art Gallery, but it doesn’t have space, so it’s in the cellars. The better-known picture is ‘The Badminton Game’, which John Major displayed at No. 10. But Tony Blair didn’t care for it, and it’s now in a vault at Tate Britain.