Thoughts on an unexpected encounter with a portrait by painter Gerald Leslie Brockhurst on view at Tate Britain.

"You know when you have come across an interesting painting. It will make you stop and look twice. An interesting painting tends to hold your attention while making it difficult to arrive at any particular conclusion. First I thought Brockhurst’s painting was old-fashioned and fairly traditional. Yes, it is painted well, but that alone is never satisfactory – at least to me. What about it then?… I think what continues to hold my attention in this painting is its lack of painterly excess… Sometimes an old painting can outwit a new one and surprise you…"