"Giles Auty was one of only four outstanding art critics in Britain in the past forty years"
-- Paul Johnson, The Spectator, February 17, 1996

When I switched course in mid-career from being a painter to a writer I certainly experienced a few nervous moments. Would I ever feel as confident about writing as I did with a paintbrush in my hands? Then purely by chance, after years of wondering, I met an Italian Professor of English at a cocktail party in Venice. "I can't believe I've met you" he told me "because I am always holding your writing up as a model for my students." How...