Art is a wonderful thing; I've always said as much. In the halcyon days before I met the lady wife, I used to spend many happy hours browsing in the great galleries - the Tate, the National, and so on - but sadly, such simple pleasures are now a thing of the past. The problem is, quite simply, that an awful lot of great art contains naked ladies, and Mrs Shiresby-Leggett doesn't approve. It isn't so much that she disapproves of naked ladies per se, as it were, it is more the case that she disapproves of me looking at them. She has always maintained, throughout our married life, that after a visit to an art gallery, I invariably come home in an unusual frame of mind, and am in some way more demanding of her attentions than at other times. The good lady wife has an unerring instinct for these things, and invariably makes me take the confounded corgis for a walk to 'take my mind off things', as she so delicately puts it. And so, sadly, the visits to art galleries stopped at a very early stage of our marriage. Nevertheless, I occasionally pop down to the local library even now, in order to enjoy a furtive rekindling of my interest in the graphic arts in the appropriate section, and I keep a small selection of choice fine-art books hidden safely under the bed for special occasions. I am also permitted to hang, on the wall of my office, a copy of the famous painting 'Whistler's Mother' by Van Dyke, since the lady wife considers this painting to be relatively harmless and free of moral taint.

Now I should like to point out that, in view of the above, it has fallen to my feckless assistant Bailey, rather than my good self, to choose the artwork for this gallery. Doubtless, he will find some flimsy excuse to stock it exclusively with images of naked ladies, since he is inordinately fond of such things and knows full well that I shall not be permitted to view the pages myself. Allow me to state clearly, here and now, that all complaints should be addressed to Bailey. Any compliments on the gallery contents, however, should be addressed to me, and sent directly to my Offices at the University, and definitely not to my home address under any circumstances whatsoever.

T K S-L, BA, MA, PhD, PBC

As ever, examine our catalogue of artists below, and click the pretty button to go to the gallery for that artist.

	Giacomo Cillibotti
	Richard Dadd
	Joseph Mallord William Turner
	Rembrandt
	Paul Cezanne
	Claude Monet
	Jean-Jacques Soufflé

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