I was in the Louvre museum in Paris and came across a picture by Domenico Ghirlandaio from 1490. It was ‘Un Portrait d’un vieillard et d’un Jeune Garcon cet Emouvant Portrait d’un Jeune Garcon et s’un Patricien Florentin Age Defigure par une Acne Rosacree.’

I looked at the picture for a long time. I felt for the old man (he is pretty ugly with a very bumpy nose), because I also suffer from Rosacea. But what was lovely about this picture was the tenderness between the old man and the child – between experience and innocence. They look at each other with much love.

It is almost like a Madonna and Child – perhaps all the more moving because in the Louvre the conventional image is so abundant.