Art therapy

 The Wilton Diptych, Turner's Helvoetsluys,

anything by Van Gogh, (I rather favoured 

Still Life with quinces and lemons

in order to tempt Sue), and Velasquez's Crucifixion,

have each had votes so far.
Further nominations are for
The Graham Children by Hogarth and 
The Madonna with the Iris by Dürer.

None of the downloadable images did justice to them

so I have scanned a postcard of my tentative choice.

Despite Clark's assertion that the public did not want to see

Dutch painting or any realistic paintings, 

I see that in June 1942 they exhibited Pieter de Hooch's

A Woman and her Maid in a Courtyard

sadly not now on display, but I am frequently drawn to this:

and I think that amid the chaos of bombed-out,
blacked-out London,

I would have been happier to contemplate sunlit order

 than to wilt under the stern gaze

of Margharetha de Geer.

The inscription above the door translates as:

This is in Saint Jerome's vale, 

if you wish to repair to patience and meekness.

For we must first descend if we wish to be raised.