Singing in exultation

Every Christmas, I face the problem of choosing an official card. The National Gallery Company sends through the range of choice some time in June, when it all seems far off. I can choose from the ‘Wilton Diptych’ (well, it’s not very Christmassy apart from the fact that it has a gold background) to the Leonardo Cartoon (too well-known) to a Chardin still-life (too secular for my taste because I still feel that Christmas should be about more than a bottle of wine). This year I have chosen a detail from Velázquez’s ‘The Immaculate Conception’, in spite of the fact that, as a detail, it looks rather too reminiscent of a Roman Catholic keepsake, bought in the side-aisle of a pilgrimage church. I chose it as a subliminal reminder that our Velázquez exhibition closes not long after Christmas (book now!) and has certainly been my most memorable event of the year.