Saint Francis of Assisi is, of course, the patron saint of animals (the holy man even quieted a flock of noisy birds disrupting a religious ceremony according to one speculative tale). The National Gallery in London pays homage to the holy lover of nature in a big show which opened this week with works by Caravaggio, Josefa de Óbidos, Stanley Spencer, Antony Gormley and Giuseppe Penone. Hats off to the head of marketing who brought in a pair of sculptural (actual) ‘wolves’ for the exhibit launch who performed well throughout the VIP evening, posing serenely with the guests. Our spies on the ground say the selfie-friendly creatures are on loan from a company called Watermill Wolves and once appeared in the hit TV fantasy drama Game Of Thrones. “Watermill wolves aren’t actually wolves, but wolfdogs,” the company’s website says, though “they have varying amounts of wolf DNA.” National Gallery director Gabriele Finaldi particularly enjoyed having his photo taken with the cute canines.
