Still Life: The instant Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

Niente/Nothing

Art and life intertwined.

Had grounded them and introduced them to a way of life they would aspire to and return to.

Once with a person and once with the city itself. You have all that to come, Ulysses. Open your heart. Things happen there, if you let them. Wonderful things.

It’s what we’ve always done. Left a mark on a cave, or on a page. Showing who we are, sharing our view of the world, the life we’re made to bear.

‘Luce intellettual, piena d’amore.’ What’s that mean, sir? Light of the mind, full of love.

They shared the same simplicity of décor, a luxurious ease of taste and style, frescoes on the ceilings, but only curved lines and clusters of leaves, blue and white, or white and pink, washed out by age or a skilful brush.

But always the value for me will be response. How it moves one.

But what it’s always about, for me, is response. It’s a painting that demands of us a response. All the best ones do.