Irresistible combination: Richard’s dulciloquent voice and morsel after morsel of rich, succulent fact – If you look carefully you can still see – “Do you like auctions?” – I love snooping about – I was intrigued – the lush colours have to be imagined but nothing can take away the sheer spectacle of the painting – the greatest engineering-cum-architectural undertaking – best way of reproducing pictorial content – people in their finery – Box 127 came under the hammer – merchant city rich but vulnerable hard to govern but easy to invade – oarsmen pulling hard against the current – removed the grime of many decades from the glass – died of dysentery – often under tables where you can find boxes of bric-a-brac – the hammer finally came down in my favour – things didn’t work out the way he’d planned – the hammer finally came down in my favour – Canaletto – truly inspiring…