A treasury of art that repays a visit

SINCE its reopening early last month, Athena has taken every opportunity to drop into the National Gallery in London and absorb a bit more of the 200th-anniversary rehang of the collection.

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Despite the weight of visitors, she hasn't had to queue to get in for any length of time, surely a mark of the practical success of the new main entrance. Her impression of the rehang is overwhelmingly positive. Merely seeing the paintings in a new configuration makes them appear fresh once more—familiar favourites appear in a new light and some previously overlooked works are suddenly revealed to advantage—but that’s not all.

The hang remains broadly chronological and is denser than before—Hogarth's six-part ‘Marriage à-la-Mode’, for example, is double hung—to get more works on display.