ALAN BENNETT, THAT MAN OF many talents, has said the time he served as a trustee of the National Gallery afforded more hours of pleasure than any other honour. You can see why. The freedom to wander round those rooms at nightfall, after the hordes have departed, is an enviable privilege.
Paintings are appreciated most intensely when there are few people around to spoil the view. Certain well-known works are impossible to savour as they should be savoured because platoons of the gormless clog up the
