View Monet and Renoir painting side by side

Room 41 in the National Gallery in London currently has two very famous paintings hanging next to one another. They are the two paintings created of La Grenouillère by Claud Monet and Pierre Renoir.

Monet and Renoir - Painting Side by Side

The National Gallery has a link to this exhibit - which continues until 22 September 2026 and is free to all visitors before the Renoir painting moves to a new exhibition (see end for more details)
 

The panorama of boats, bathers and people at La Grenouillère
(Left) Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claud Monet (1840-1926)
(Right) La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

I've seen them hung like this before. However what is extremely helpful this time is the diagram which demonstrates how close they were to one another - but looking in different directions.

The two viewpoints of the small island on the River Seine
from the pier of the floating restaurant
Monet in orange and Renoir in grey

They are in effect stood a few feet apart and looking across each other's viewpoint.

Note how if you study the diagram and then look at the paintings next to one another, they are almost a panorama of the scene in front of both men. eg 

• Renoir includes the small island 
• while Monet crops just to the left of the island

The diagram is adapted from one contained in a book called Modernity and Modernism French Painting in the Nineteenth Century Yale University Press 1993 (available online for a low price)

Here are the two paintings in isolation. 

For those who can't get to the London, I've also included the descriptions of the two paintings in the exhibit.

Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claud Monet (1840-1926)
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

Painted quickly on the spot, this picture has a cursory quality. Adopting an unusual viewpoint and a high horizon, Monet draws the viewer's eye to the river and the boats in the foreground. A wooden pontoon cuts across the middle of canvas, breaking the traditional rules of composition. Rapid dabs of colour suggest bathers and strollers. Avoiding a literal transcription of reality, in this seminal work Monet captures the essence - the impression of a landscape.

La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

         oil on canvas

on loan from the National Museum Stockholm

Renoir chooses a different viewpoint, to the right of Monet's. He includes the little round islet known as the *camembert' and, to the far right, a floating restaurant. Unlike Monet, Renoir focuses his attention on the fashionable crowd in the centre, populating his canvas with delightful details: a child plays with a boat, while a dog snoozes in the shadow. "La Grenouillère was a perpetual party, and what an assortment of people!" he later recalled.

Two exhibitions of note are coming up - which relate in a way to these two paintings.

Two NEW Exhibitions in London

Royal Society of Marine Artists | Annual Exhibition 2026

North, West and East Galleries at the Mall Galleries - 16 Sep 2026 - 26 Sep 2026 - 10am to 5pm 

The RSMA paint scenes associated with seas and tidal rivers. This particular scene would not have been possible as the Seine is only tidal to Rouen.

(note: the Royal Society of Marine Artists website is not secure i.e. http:// rather than https:// and I never link to insecure websites)

Renoir and Love

Explore the sun-dappled gardens and swirling dance halls of Paris through 40 paintings, brought together from collections across the world.

National Gallery, London

Dates: 3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027

Standard admission

• £20 (off-peak, Sunday-Thursday)
• £25 (Friday and Saturday, and all days in the first two weeks)
• Under 18s go free

Wildife Artist of the Year 2026 - Winners

I've now got all the names of those who won their categories - plus, of course, the overall winner and the runner up (which I did know).

• All quotations come from the Wildlife Artist of the Year and/or website unless otherwise stated.
• I'm assuming the description of the art is by the artist (until anybody tells me otherwise)
• I'm going to use the text provided to me by the David Shepherd Foundation as to the Judges' reasons why an artwork won an award
• Plus some of the pics come from the dswfwildart Instagram account
• the rest are my pics.

The judging panel is made up of art professionals, artists and conservationists.

Note: I only do this for long-running and prestigious art competitions which attract an international entry! That's because not everybody can get to the exhibition.

For my review of the exhibition see Another Excellent "Wildlife Artist of the Year" Exhibition (2026)

For my photos of the exhibition see an album on my Facebook Page - Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026

Overall Winner of "Wildlife Artist of the Year"

Stefano Zagaglia - Evanescence the Biggest

This brings a

• £5,000 cash prize,
• the official title, and
• a £5,000 conservation donation made in the winner's name.

WINNER OF WILDLIFE ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2026
Evanescence - The Biggest
oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm
Stefano Zagaglia

The Label in the exhibition states

The elephant slowly emerges from the white, a powerful yet fragile presence. Only a portion of Its body is visible, while the rest dissolves in the light, suggesting a presence that might vanish. The tusks, a symbol of its strength and its doom, become the focus of the gaze. A reminder of how great and majestic this species is, but also how vulnerable it is to human actions.

This was the Judges comment

"A winning artwork isn’t always the loudest. Sometimes it is the one you cannot stop looking at, and in that context the artist of this beautiful piece has presented the Elephant, our largest living land mammal whose quiet strength never needs to shout. Stefano has brilliantly embraced the subject, most importantly the category and this competition in all its glory."
- WAY 2026 Judge

About the Artist

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by David Shepherd Wildlife Art (@dswfwildlifeart) 

Stefano Zagaglia's website says nothing about him except why he paints wildlife.  However 

• his Facebook Page indicates he lives in Milan where he expresses himself more fully about what the prize means to him
• it did have this statement about "Evanescence"

The paint remains on the canvas as if struggling.

As if no longer certain it can remain.

It thins, surrenders to the light.

And the bodies of the animals approach the edges, dissolve.

As if suspended — between appearing and disappearing.

It’s a moment.

The moment before the end.

And perhaps, also,a last gesture.

A last attempt to hold them back.

Before they vanish completely.

Overall Runner Up 

Prizes are

• £1,000 cash prize and
• a £1,000 conservation donation made in the runner-up's name.

Alberto Duvivier Tembo - Extincts

Another Excellent "Wildlife Artist of the Year" Exhibition (2026)

I've attended - and reviewed - many Wildlife Artist of the Year (WAY) exhibitions, organised by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and held  at the Mall Galleries each year. 

There's lots to read below of interest to all aspiring and established wildlife artists.

• Why visit this exhibition
• Note for aspiring and participating artists
• How to view the exhibition - in person and online
• Some facts about the exhibition
• How to view the exhibition - including links to my past reviews of this exhibition going back to 2008

TOMORROW I'm publishing a post about the Category winners.

Feature Wall in WAY 2026

However I deliberately missed the PV on Tuesday and visited on Wednesday. I found out from those who were there that it was, as I expected, absolutely packed out with people who love wildlife and wildlife art and were keen to buy good art - and it was very hot! Which is why I tend to duck PVs these days as my internal thermostat is out of whack at the moment.

The view from the stairs - lots and lots of visitors

When I got there on Wednesday morning, apart from an awful lot of red dots, I also saw an awful lot of people who were studying the artwork with enthusiasm. 

As well they might as there was lots of excellent artwork to look at.

I took a lot of photos - of all the artwork - and have uploaded most of these to an album on my Facebook Page - Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026

Below is a review of the exhibition

If I can work out the category winners I'll do another post about those. (If somebody at DSWF can send me the details that would be much appreciated. I'd assumed they'd be on the website.)

Why visit this exhibition?

The end wall
- it took a long time for me to get a clear view of this
because of the number of visitors!

For me, what is unique about this exhibition is that very many of the wildlife artists selected for the exhibition tend to be those who have "gone the extra mile" in terms of capturing innate characteristics of their subject 

Cat Crawl 

Pastel, 47cm x 40cm

Lisa Gleim AAPLF, AFC, ASMA, AWAM, CGA, IAPS/MC, PSA, SAA, SPSM

This one for example, positively jumped off the wall at me, given the acute observation of primal cat behaviour when it comes to hunting - as every domestic cat owner will recognise. That and the fact I love pastel artwork!

and/or finding a new way to convey the essence of their subject.

Three oil paintings by Stefano Zagaglia
Winner of WAY 2026
(the winning painting is on the right)
Scale: all the paintings are 100 cm x 100 cm
note the plugs bottom left for scale

I think I probably see more innovation and novel ways of representing subject matter at this exhibition than any other. It just happens to be wildlife.

Portrait Award 2026: The 10 portraits I liked the most

This is a post about the ten portraits I like the best in the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery. 

At the end I say which portrait will, I think, win the Visitors' Choice Award.

Portraits hanging in the HSFK Portrait Award competition
at the National Portrait Galllery

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

I've been reviewing the Portrait Award at the NPG since 2008 (see end) - which means I've looked at a lot of top quality portraits over the last 18 years.

• After my first impression on the Awards Night Viewing, I generally know which portraits have made a big impression on me 
• Interestingly they are not necessarily the winner or even the winners.
• It's something to do with being able to see the portraits in the context of an exhibition - and next to one another
• The next morning I get to see them all over again at the Press View morning - which enables me to check out whether I still think the same
• I then get to think about the portraits again while writing about the Artists with their Paintings (which used to be one very long post (eg Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings) but this year turned into five! (See the end for links to my blog posts). This always depends on whether the artist turned up AND wore their badge so I could spot them! (Some artists have not yet worked out yet that the buttons they are given to wear can generate them publicity!)

So what follows are:

• the portraits which stuck in my head
• the portraits which made me look more closely at them
• portraits which include some clever composition and design
• the ones with interesting sitters
• the ones which generated an emotional response
• a complete absence of prizewinners - except for one which I could not exclude

I should also mention that this list excludes some very good paintings which include things I really do NOT like - my classic example being tattoos - and hence got excluded simply because of that (given the title of this post!).

I've also noticed that a lot are by women artists - which is interesting. That's not why they were chosen though.

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

There is no rationale about the order in which they are listed - except I have ordered them by size - after the one which once seen can never be forgotten

The One which stuck in my head the most

Is your framer still in business?

I'm writing this post because several notable fine art picture framing businesses and associated manufacturing plants have recently closed or entered administration due to high business rates, rising material costs, and economic pressures.

This post covers

• why framers are going out of business and closing
• how to protect your interests as an artist
• how to find a decent framer for artwork

A bit of a shocker

My tulip wood frames from Picture Frames of Shaftesbury

I was casually looking through my Memories on my personal FB account  yesterday - and the above pic came up in the context of an exhibition I was submitting artwork to in September - 12 years ago in 2014.

I idly put the name of the people "Picture Frames of Shaftesbury" who did an excellent job of my online ordered frames into Google - and nothing came up. Which I thought was a bit weird.

So I kept looking - and came across the announcement that they had closed down in 2025 and been dissolved (following voluntary liquidation) on 17 June 2026.

Being an accountant by profession, I went to Companies House and read the winding up documents and it was a very sad tale.

Then today I asked Google "framers going out of business" and they came straight back with yet more names and the reasons why

Google identified General Industry Pressures i.e. 

Independent framers across the UK report that escalating business rates, minimum order thresholds for materials, and the cost-of-living crisis are making traditional high-street shops unsustainable.

plus highlighted...

Recent Picture Framer Closures

• Picture Frames of Shaftesbury permanently closed in July 2025, resulting in six redundancies and the formal dissolution of the company on June 17, 2026.

The sudden closure left clients without their regular framing service and displaced local staff.

• Darbyshire Ltd: Closed on May 8, 2026, after 34 years of operating as a prominent fine art framer for major artists and galleries.
• Alec Drew Picture Frames Limited: This was a long-running specialist fine art framing business on Chelsea Green in London that closed and went into administration in June 2026 after 50 years in business.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Darbyshire Ltd (@darbyshireltd)

""Well that's all folks" After 50 years Alec Drew Picture Frames has closed"

Some like this chap have retired. Although his business had disappeared.

An extract from the Statement of Administrator's Proposal (i.e. the people who wind up the business under the Insolvency Act)

The Company is a long-established bespoke picture-framing business specialising in high quality custom framing, including conservation and museum-standard framing services. The Company built a reputation within the fine-art and framing sector for specialist craftsmanship, and its customer base spanned private individuals, collectors, artists and others seeking premium framing services.

Chelsea has experienced changes in recent decades, including rising property prices, changing retail patterns and increasing numbers of properties held as investment assets rather than occupied full-time residences. It is believed that these factors have contributed to reduced footfall for the business.

In addition, changing preferences toward digital photography and digital art display may have reduced the long-term demand for traditional picture-framing services compared with previous generations.

Macro-economic factors including uncertainty, inflation and pressure on household incomes can result in customers postponing non-essential purchases such as custom framing. Ever increasing costs for staffing, utilities and raw materials has resulted in tighter margins.

My recommendation

Final Call for Online Entries: RMS Annual Exhibition 2026

The deadline for ONLINE ENTRIES for the 2026 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Artists, Sculptors and Gravers is Friday 28th August 6pm (GMT)

The Royal Society of Miniature Artists, Sculptors and Gravers is the world’s foremost organisation dedicated to the centuries-old tradition of miniature art. 

What is Miniature Art

Although miniature art was considerably bigger when the society was first created, the current state of play is highlighted in this introduction to the art form by Anthony Lester (which comes from one of my earlier blog posts).

With a maximum size of 6 x 4 inches (15.24 x 10.16 cm), the painting of miniatures demands self-discipline, for where large pictures give some latitude in composition, miniatures are unforgiving of the least mistake; a tolerance of even a millimetre is hardly permitted. 

The Gold Bowl Award winning work in 2025

plus the "Honourable Mentions"

which I had the honour of judging 

with London art critic Tabish Khan

(bottom row second from left came home with me and now hangs in my hall!)

RMS Annual Exhibition 2026

Below is a quick summary of arrangements for

• the exhibition
• online entries
• submission of selected artwork by non-members

Final Call: The Discerning Eye Exhibition 2026

You have THREE DAYS LEFT to submit an entry to the Discerning Eye Exhibition which will be held at the Mall Galleries in November.

This prestigious annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London celebrates small-scale artworks by UK-based artists.

From call for entries by Parker Harris
amended by me to highlight the small nature of the artwork!

This is a very different sort of art exhibition - because it only contains small scale works - defined as a maximum diameter of 50cm in any direction.

In 2025, this exhibition featured 

• more than 730 artworks 
• by 529 artists, 
• selected from an outstanding 6,500 entries.
• curated by six invited selectors

Parker Harris post

Below is what you need to know to enter

Essential Details 

• Deadline for Online Submissions ONLY: 5PM on Thursday, 27 August 2026 via https://artopps.co.uk/checkout/165
• Exhibition: 13 to 21 November 2026 at the Mall Galleries in London.
• Prizes: Over £9,000 available across multiple categories.
• Who can exhibit?: emerging and established artists
• Artwork Rules: 
• Small-scale works - This is defined as a maximum 50cm in any direction, INCLUDING the frame
• in any medium
• all pieces must be available for sale. (a commission of 40% + VAT will be charged on all sales)
• How to Enter: You can submit your online application through ArtOpps https://artopps.co.uk/opportunities/discerningeye-26. 
• This the page with the RULES
• This is the Page with answers to the FAQs
• All entries must be entered online in the form of digital images and must be accompanied by the following information: Title, Medium, Year, Dimensions and Price.
• all images must be either JPEG or PNG files, no larger than 5MB
• if the work contains offensive material it's likely to be withdrawn from the exhibition (which is a new one on me - I can only assume Parker Harris has run into this issue on another exhibition)
• Who runs/organises the competition? 
• The exhibition belongs to The Discerning Eye. (Note: The ING Bank which has previously sponsored the competition no longer seems to be involved)
• It's organised by an art consultancy called Parker Harris 
• who use ArtOpps as the platform for dissemination of the rules etc and all digital submissions

Discerning Eye exhibition in the West Gallery last year
- which usually contains the exhibitions of four of the selectors

The Selectors in 2026

As always, this year's exhibition will be curated by six prominent figures from across the art world.

Each selector works independently, bringing their own distinct perspective to create six exhibitions within the whole. You cannot rely on looking at past exhibitions to know what sort of work would be suitable. 

However you might try reviewing the selectors' instagram accounts.... 

Tributes to Anthony J Lester (1945-2026)

To mark the passing of art critic, author and prizegiver Anthony J Lester on 19th August 2026, age 81.

I've known Anthony as an art critic and prizegiver and his wife Elizabeth Meek MBE PPRMS PPSWA for nearly 20 years, mostly from us all attending the same PVs at the Mall Galleries. However he's been doing what he was doing for the last 50 years. He was very definitely a constant of the national art society world in the UK and they were together one of the best known couples in it.

I've known for a while about his stage 4 pancreatic cancer for a while - he shared the news on his instagram

I'm borrowing the text from 

• his wife's post yesterday afternoon on her Instagram account; and 
• the Mall Galleries tribute  

except I've bullet pointed his contributions to the art world.

I'll miss seeing that red trilby hat which often came to the PVs too!

ANTHONY J LESTER
1945 - 2026

My beloved wonderful husband Tony, who was my best friend and soul mate, has very sadly passed away after a hard battle against pancreatic cancer. He was the very best and brilliant of men and will be very much missed by those who knew and loved him.

• Art Critic, journalist
• Curator,
• Picture Expert on Antique Roadshow
• Expert on BBC 'Flog it' 
• Radio Broadcaster,
• Author of many books
• Creator of the Anthony J Lester Award, presented at various charity art societies,
• art researcher, and much much more.

This is the post by the Mall Galleries with which he has been much associated over the years

For over forty years Anthony has given massive support to the Federation of British Artists at Mall Galleries.

He curated several exhibitions on behalf of the FBA, including the much-acclaimed Pure Gold: 50 Years of the Federation of British Artists (2011), The Art of a Nation: Irish Works from the Allied Irish Banks and Crawford Art Gallery Collections (2015), and Winners: Award Winning Artists 2020-2022 (2022).

In 2011 he created the Anthony J. Lester Art Critic Award, which he presented at several exhibitions at Mall Galleries, including those of the New English Art Club and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. Such support resulted in Anthony being made a 

• Companion of the Pastel Society and 
• Fellow of the Royal Society of British Artists. 

In addition to this, he was 

• a long-time Member of the International Association of Art Critics and The Critics’ Circle and 
• a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and 
• Life Member of Chelsea Arts Club.

What I hadn't realised, until researching this post, was quite how many catalogues for both art societies and artists he'd compiled and written. 

This tribute also goes on to mention something I didn't know.

Anthony was introduced to Elizabeth Meek at the Mall Galleries in 2004. He was organising and selecting the works for Not the Turner Prize, a £20,000 award for painting, while Elizabeth was arranging the annual exhibition of the Society of Women Artists. Their relation blossomed and in 2008 they married. Elizabeth introduced him to colourful hats ranging from blue to red to pink to yellow, and zany, multi-coloured shirts. The couple certainly stood out from the crowd and were frequently spotted at the gallery’s Private Views. 

Commnts from those who knew him

I am so sorry to hear this Liz. He was such a lovely man and a great support to artists. His generosity, kindness and enthusiasm will be much missed. Sending you love. X Harriet Mead PSWLA

He was always so generous in chatting to artists at Mall Galleries PV’s, I always enjoyed talking to both Anthony and Elizabeth.
The Art World will miss him, what a wonderful, colourful character he was. Felicity Flutter RI

I am so sorry to hear this. He was so well loved and respected and did so much for artists. I send my love and thoughts. Lilias August RI

 

A final thought - I'm passing on

A few years back Antony and Elizabeth "retired" and went to live on the coast in Sussex.

However, on meeting them at subsequent PVs, I learned from them an invaluable tip about the wisdom of keeping a place in London.

You want to be living somewhere with very good hospitals within very easy reach as you get older and your health starts to cause concern.

Anthony was supported by the Royal Marsden Hospital at the end. I'll let him have the final word.

I am being treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital and cannot praise the consultants, doctors and nurses enough for their professionalism and kindness. My message to everyone is enjoy every day - it's precious.

Call for Entries: The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2027

The Call for Entries for the 128th Exhibition by the Pastel Society in January 2027 has been published on the Mall Galleries website. 

Artists working in pastel and contemporary dry media are invited to submit their work for the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2027

This post summarises what you need to know. 

• Submissions are ONLINE ONLY and 
• open from 17 August to 20 November 2026

Benefits of Exhibiting with The Pastel Society

This is an OPEN ART EXHIBITION. If you submit and are selected for the exhibition your artwork will be

• included in the catalogue
• seen by visitors to the Mall Galleries - and it gets a LOT of visitors
• viewed online via the Mall Galleries website and that of the Pastel Society - before, during and after the Exhibition
• eligible for a number of prizes & awards - and some have significant cash awards (see below)if you want to become a member, you first need to get exhibited via the open entry
• may well sell - but ONLY if you pay attention to what I have to tell you below about pricing and sales!!

Pastel Society | Annual Exhibition 2027 | Key Facts and Dates

What drew me to the Pastel Society was the thought of being surrounding by other people fascinated by dry media in particular
Curtis Holder

Venue: Mall Galleries, The Mall, London
Exhibition Dates: Wednesday 27th January - Saturday 6th February 2027
Private View (invite only): Wednesday 27th January 2027 - 5pm to 8pm, official opening at 6:30pm

Submissions: ONLINE ONLY and open until 12 noon Friday 20 November 2026
Notification of selection: Friday 4th December 2026, 12 noon
Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 16th January 2027 10am to 5pmCollection of unsold work: Thursday 11 February 2027 10am to 5pm
Awards and Prizes - see listing near the end of this post

One of the walls in the Pastel Society's Annual Exhibition in 2026

Call for Entries

What you read below is most - but not all - the terms and conditions of entry and information about what and artist must and must not do. 

It's down to you to read the Full Details, Entry Terms & Conditions

Find out more about how to enter:

The return of the visitor map!

I've been using counters for visits and pageviews for the last 20 years. I like quick information - but I also want indepth information.

A Quick Look - on the blog

For many years, I have used clustrmaps.com to provide a visual map in my side column of where visitors to my blog come from.

I've always been completely amazed that I can sit typing at home in East London and the words that get published on my blog get read by people living all over the world - literally on every continent (bar Antarctica).

However, very sadly Clustrmaps has died.

Hence I was very pleased today to find a product which seeks to replicate it. Indeed I think it might even be the same team with a different name as they seem to have the same ethos - which is one I like and very much approve of.

Map My Visitors was created by a small team — just three guys working together. We are passionate about making web analytics accessible to everyone. We understand that tracking website traffic is essential for businesses, bloggers, and individuals, but the cost and complexity of existing solutions can be extremely overwhelming. That's why we set out on a mission to create a hit counter service that is not only accurate, fast, and responsive but also user-friendly and affordable.

You can find out more about them and what they do here.

Introducing MapMyVistors

MapMyVisitors

MapMyVisitors has a real time visitor map widget - and produces 

• either a map of where all your visitors come from (unless they are blocking their location)
• or a Globe widget (which moves!) I'm not a fan of things which move!

Visitors are either a red dot ie past visitors) or an amber or green dot ie visited recently

You can see the map near the top of the right hand side column.

Today - with just a few hours of stats on it, it looks like this

ON MY BLOG - as a widget

MapMyVisitors Widget
This is an enlarged version of the widget in the side column
after a few hours (i.e. installed on 19th August)

ON MY DASHBOARD

MapMyVisitors: This is the map on my screen re the dashboard.
Below it lists all the various locations

Statcounter

I cannot remember when I first started using Statcounter - but my stats suggest it must have been nearly 20 years ago.

I also use Statcounter to provide an incredibly detailed map - which allows me to drill down to region and city and ISP - and allowed me to identify I was being absolutely hammered by visits from people in South East Asia earlier this year when my stats went totally wild for two weeks.

This is today's map for the last 7 days

Statcounter: Visitor Map for the last 7 days
- with lots of the countries labelled

HOWEVER they don't have a nice widget sized one for my blog which I can look at really easily - hence my use of MapMyVisitors

The Big Deal - a programme about selling art

The Big Deal with Steph McGovern - Media Release

A new programme about art was broadcast last week on BBC1. It's a novel idea - about seeing whether complete novices can become art dealers!

The Apprentice for the Art World?

My questions as I started to watch concerned what is it actually about and what is it trying to do. Specifically:

• Is it educational or not?
• Is it going to be informative about the business side of the art world?
• will it help artists understand better how to deal with the business side of art?
• Or is it just a game show with a spin?
• Or as characterised on the programme is this "The Apprentice for the Art World"

The proposition seems to be "art is no different to any other business". 

How would you describe The Big Deal?

It’s like The Apprentice for the art world, but the deals are all real, and it’s as much about the hustle as it is about art.

So maybe educational about the sort of knowledge and skills you need to do well - much the same as happens with Sir Alan Sugar in in "The Apprentice"?

According to the media brief

Seven pairs of trainee art dealers from around the UK are putting their creativity, negotiating and profit-making skills to the test in the highly competitive art world 

The bottom line is the seven pairs compete to win £50,000 of "brilliant British art" (I spotted a David Shrigley)

The Seven Trainee Dealers

Back row: Bella, Ollie, Liam, Gavin, Phil, Ellie
Middle row: Charles, Darren, Steph McGovern, Cordelia de Freitas, Claire, Aaron
Front row: Deborah, Rebeckah, Daisy, Rebecca

Now realistically, none of them are actually trainee art dealers! Their backgrounds seem to be completely random.

However they do, of course, cover all the demographic and diversity bases. (Do you get as bored as I do ticking all the boxes for every dimension covered? Disability - tick; Gay - tick; Black - tick)

Their media profiles suggest very little involvement in the art world in terms of making, reviewing, buying, selling, collecting or anything else.

UPDATE: After I published - and after I got some odd comments on Facebook from Art Dealers who seemed very offended by the programme - I went looking and found what are "said to be the criteria used" for those who were selected to be trainee art dealers

The production team selected contestants who met specific criteria:

• No professional experience: None of the participants had a background or professional history in buying, selling, or trading art. [1]
• Walks of life: Producers recruited ordinary people from diverse backgrounds across the UK who showed a strong competitive drive, natural curiosity, and a willingness to learn. [1, 2, 3]
• Auditioned pairs/individuals: They were chosen through standard casting processes handled by production company Stellify Media to test how well their interpersonal dynamics and business instincts translated to the high-stakes contemporary art market. [1, 2]

So is that clear? NONE of the participants had any experience or history as art dealers. They are complete amateurs.

This, of course, is where the competition starts for the viewers - spotting those likely to go to the end!

• Darren (43) and Charles (40) - characterised as the "go getters". They reminded me of second hand car salesmen. I'm not expecting much of them.
• Ollie (26) and Bella (29) - siblings who are trying to get a business off the ground. Seem to be tuned into what young people like
• Claire (59) and Aaron (36) - Welsh friends Claire and Aaron are from Pembrokeshire and have a background in sales and the building industry. She's obviously the mover and shaker. I think he's along for the ride.
• Gavin (32) and Liam (28) - Best friends Gavin and Liam from Belfast have an interest in graffiti art and want to learn more about the art world. I'm expecting them to leave early.
• Deborah (42) and Rebeckah (42) - Friends Deborah and Rebeckah, from London, hope their eye for fashion can would translate successfully into selecting and trading art pieces. I think they may go far - possible winners.
• Phil (74) and Ellie (28) - the Dad and daughter team from the West Midlands love visiting art galleries together.
• Daisy (27) and Rebecca (61) - Mother and daughter Rebecca and Daisy from Warwickshire work together on the family farm – which specialises in camel hire. I also think this couple could go far. They seem to have a good eye.

The programme has two constants throughout the series.

Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings (men and couples)

This is my final category of portraits hanging in the the HSFK Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - and it's about portraits of men.

This one revisits three prizewinners!

In my series Artists with their Paintings I have so far written about

• Portraits of Children (and Parents)
• Portraits of Older People
• Self Portraits (which has been updated with two new entries since published)
• Portraits of Women

Two more posts to come:

• Review of Portrait Award 2026: What's changed and what's not
• Portrait Award 2026: The 10 portraits I liked the most - and I'll be going back to pay another visit to the exhibition before I write this one.

Portraits of Men

I'm starting with the winner of the Young Artist Award and then moving on to the overall winner before returning to artists with their painting - in alphabetical order by surname of the artist.

Those I don't have a photo of the artist with the portrait are listed at the end.

Young Artist Award: Joel Nichols

In Our Borderlands

Oil on canvas, 2025

© Joel Nichols

This is what the Judges had to say about his portrait.

The judges admired the painting's distinctly mysterious atmosphere and the technically accomplished use of light, which shapes both the psychological depth of the sitter and the spatial complexity of the composition.

TIP I've noted the Judges can often be won over by a technically complex design and rendition which speaks of layers within it. The sort of portrait that many people never think of doing.

Nichols says:

For me, the portrait's main value comes from the process of its creation rather than the final image itself. In this way, it becomes less about producing a fixed image and more about exploring identity, agency and the dynamics of looking!

Joel Nichols (Instagram) (b 2000) was born in Birmingham, England and raised in Winnipeg, Canada. They graduated from the University of Manitoba in 2024 before returning to the UK as a Rhodes Scholar to complete an MFA degree at the University of Oxford's Ruskin School of Art. Nichols is currentlv following an MA in historv of art. This is a link to his 2025 degree show.

Themes of identity, connection and vulnerability run throughout Joel Nichols's creative practice, which spans portraiture and ceramics. Joel connects various themes within his work, many stemming back to his roots in his dual nationality and biracial Jamaican descent.

This portrait originated in an Oxford University dorm room where Nichols would join with fellow students to 'foster community' by cooking or watching films. One evening, Nichols noticed how a mirror in the room refracted light in multiple colours across the face of a friend, Jo, and suggested they meet again to revisit the moment in the artist's studio. 

Overall Winner: Marc Dalessio

Don't skip this because you read Mark Dalessio wins £35,000 Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 - Mark has offered us some more insight into how he went about this painting.