Jonty Claypole

We're, we're seeing this tradition of painters who think of literature as kind of giving them their subject matter.

That the, that the- it's English literature that elevates England to being a kind of, well, European reputation, Jonty, being of global importance, and that the painters are sort of bouncing off that.

It's interesting, Sophie, that Brown's chosen to show Chaucer during his Edward III years-

Yes

There are some chickens walking around, which is a very nicely Chaucerian image.

And we're seeing ordinary life playing out here with the supplicant noble- nobleman who has been bro- literally brought, brought to his knees by the, by the loyalty and the nobility of this young working-class farm girl.

So your point, I think, is really right, Jonty, that the, the Pre-Raphaelites are not just influenced by literature, but they're- But it's almost like their kind of, their manifesto is that the kinds of stories that are being told in literature that, and the kind of sort of cultural prestige of English literature, it's time for it to migrate across into British art

And certainly, I think in Britain, this is probably the, the first artistic movement which is what we would now call multimedia.

That's lovely, and that's all thanks to Mr. Hans Sloane.

And do you know, Jonty, when you say I can piss off back to my hotel-

[laughs]

...

I've recently moved from my home at Hyde Park Gate in Kensington to a much more bohemian setup on Gordon Square in Bloomsbury, then a down-at-heels, decidedly bohemian neighborhood.

Lovely.

And I am Jonty Claypole.

I am a marble horse.