My favourite painting from this afternoon’s quick walk round parts of the National Gallery was Schedoni‘s portrait of the Holy Family, a little painting of the Virgin Mary teaching the infant Jesus to read, with Saint Joseph in the background.  I will pass over my puzzlement over why Mary is attempting to teach a child of that age to read…  I know nothing about it, as I know almost nothing about art generally, but it appealed to me in some way.  It was something about the tenderness, I think.  I can’t find a public domain copy of the National Gallery’s version that I can insert, so you’ll just have to head for the National Gallery website.   The only one I can find on wikimedia commons has an extra child in it and the composition doesn’t appeal to me as much.  Anyway, I thought it was a beautiful little thing, and it caught my eye.