Off to a conference at the National Portrait Gallery today. Yes indeed - Simeon Solomon: Desire, Masculinity and Victorian Art no less. Here's a picture of Simeon. He was a latecomer to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and made quite a name for himself in the 1860s. Then in 1873 it all went a bit tits up, when he was arrested letting it all hang out in a public lav. As the joke goes, he was never to show in public again.

There were six 'papers' presented - some more interesting than others - but all very impressive. We went for lunch in the Salisbury pub on St Martin's Lane - seemed fitting being all Victoriana decor. I also checked out the Pet Shop Boys exhibition - which is small but beautifully formed.

Came home to walk hop-along-Harriet and reflect on the sexual politics of Jewish representation in Victorian England. Where's the gin...