The great cathedrals and the master artists bask in fame – and yet the everyday art of centuries might be obscure. A handful of creators become household names – their undeniable skill aligning perfectly with the politics of their patrons, the fashionable trends of specific times, the flow of favours and money, and blind dumb luck – while others have no reward but for creativity itself. This detail of a tower is from a historic but unknown church, in a historic but unknown town, made by a historic but unknown hand. And yet this piece converses with you if you just look at it. There are stories, in each of the little figures and the balcony-like edifices that frame them. But also on the surface of the bricks, the corners, the angles…

To create for the sake of money and fame is a gamble. But to create because it is natural and inevitable, and for its own sake, and to express the soul… well, that’s more of a sure thing.