Rembrandt portrait painters London Kent

Art Teachers

If painting can be taught, where do you go to get tuition? I‘ve been taught and continue to be taught by a number of teachers. Whilst they each have their own individual strengths and abilities, they share one common characteristic.

They’re all dead.

I don’t like to single anyone out, but if asked to make a recommendation it would be a Dutchman who came to London recently. The lessons cost £16 per hour, although, once you were there, you could stay longer if you were prepared to put up with the crowds.

And what crowds. A legion of pilgrims from the home counties. People by the hundred, every hour on the hour, day after day. But those who stopped and really took the time to look, would see a form of necromancy. That particular alchemy by which coloured mud in linseed oil is used to penetrate the soul.

And then there’s that look he gives you. That knowing look that says “Now you come. Now you want to know. Where were you when I had to sell my house and all my possessions?”