This Day

 On this day in 1599 was born, in Antwerp, Anthony Van Dyck, the brilliant portraitist who became one of those foreigners we English adopt from time to time to advance the progress of the arts in this country (see also Holbein, Rubens, Lely and a host of sculptors and monument makers). Thomas Gainsborough on his deathbed was heard to declare that 'We are all going to heaven, and Van Dyck is of the company.' A distinguished company it would have been...
  This is also the date on which, in 2022, my beloved daughter and grandsons Sam and Ethan arrive in England, having escaped Stalag NZ for a few weeks. It has been more than two years since we last saw them – far, far too long.