Praise for Tate Britain rehang

Tate Britain’s chronological rehang, which was unveiled last month, has received a positive response from the critics. Some of the juxtapositions of British works in the previous, thematic hang were described as “aggressive” when the gallery opened in 2000. Penelope Curtis, the gallery’s director, described how the installation aims to provide a more neutral interpretation (The Art News-paper, May, p53). Henry Moore and William Blake each have a room of their own, while well-loved works, such as Hockney’s Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 1970-71 (left), have prominent positions in the new promenade of British art from the 16th century to the present. Meanwhile, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is celebrating the arrival of Millais’s portrait of the art critic John Ruskin, one of the great works of Pre Raphaelite portraiture. Long in private ownership, it has been donated in lieu of taxes.