Lost in transit: The
Origin of Painting, c.1775-78, by David Allan?
(1744-96), after his own original, is one of the treasures bought
by King Carlos III of Spain after an English ship was captured by
the French in 1779. The rightful owner of this painting, from crate
"G.M.", was the Revd George Moir (1741-1818), minister at Peterhead
in Scotland. From The English Prize: The capture of the
Westmorland, An episode of the grand tour, edited by María
Dolores Sánchez-Jáuregui and Scott Wilcox (Yale, £45
(£40.50); 978-0-300-17605-6). This is a sumptuous book
full of the research that brought forth an exhibition in the United
States and Oxford last year