Barts North Wing — Attraction in London

A magnificent addition to London's freely viewable art space. Hogarth painted these huge canvases, mounted on two walls alongside a staircase, in the 1730s (he did it for free to stop the commission from going to an Italian artist) -they have never been open to the public. Now they have been restored and opened ( mon and tue 10 to 4). As the only works by Hogarth of such monumental scale, these are startling. But you soon see the usual Hogarth quirks - the wonderful expressions, caricatured faces and expressive gestures that enhance the drama, the wonderful storytelling, smaller interesting details here and there. It is somehow very heartwarming to see something that at first glance does not seem like Hogarth at all, but then transforms into Hogarth as you keep looking. The staircase adds to the drama of looking - the angles and the viewing level changing as you go up. The adjoining great hall is nothing to write home about, but the two Hogarth works are an...