Hands are reputedly the hardest part of the body to paint. And so I typed ‘hands’ into ArtUK and waited to see what came back. There’s a lot, and largely very well executed (to my untrained eye). This pair of hands caught my eye. Even though there’s only one full hand visible, I felt a strong sense of both movement and emotion looking at this painting. The sitter is either opening or closing a book, but I can’t quite figure out which. And I’m not sure if they’re putting down something unsettling that they’ve read or if they’re picking it up with nervousness. Either way, for me, it’s a picture with melancholy in it, all communicated through the hands.

Image thanks to Art UK.