Jolly good show: Cima de Conegliano's The Incredulity of St Thomas at the National Gallery.
As I walked through the great spine of the National Gallery from east to west, moving through from the old core to the Sainsbury Wing, I suddenly saw it - a long way away, say 40 yards, a painting on the furthest wall of the gallery, creating a vista that seems limitless.
I walked through four rooms, with each doorway bringing the painting closer. Then once I was in the Sainsbury Wing, five more architectural arches drew me closer and closer to the painting that led me on. The length and depth of the perspective of the hang is breathtaking.
But as I arrived in the actual room where Cima de Conegliano's The Incredulity of St Thomas hangs, the artist delivers the final masterstroke. For the painting itself is framed in a further arch, revealing a coffered ceiling in a room where yet two more arches puncture the back wall to reveal a distant landscape with trees and castle.
From the moment that I was first aware of the painting to the moment that I looked at the far view of the castles while standing in front of Cima's masterpiece, I was carried through at least seven arches, guiding, directing and revealing the extraordinary depth of the painting.
But the decision to hang it there and like that is crucial to its power. My question is simple. Is this the best-hung painting in Britain, Europe or anywhere else? If there is a better such, I need to know.
