There’s an interesting piece on Whistler’s famous portrait of his mother in this weekend’s Financial Times. The painting is wonderful, but it seems that it took a while for some critics to think so. The Daily Telegraph wished that “Mr Whistler would leave off using mud and clay on his palette, and paint cleanly, like a gentleman.” Meanwhile the portrait was used by the US Post Office to celebrate Mother’s Day in 1934. The designer in charge was so upset by the notion of Anna Whistler staring into nothingness that he made a change – he added flowers.

Cliff Claven would approve.