Family’s here (OK, my mother; we’re a small family) and it’s time to pay attention to the people in the room instead of writing. So to celebrate winter, and the shorter days (tell that to a child waiting for Christmas), here’s one of my favorite paintings by Rhode Island native Gilbert Stuart.

It has a cousin here, by Sir Henry Raeburn. The selection of Raeburn’s portraits online (there are 25 in the National Galleries of Scotland) is stunning. What a treat for wintery days in these dark but luminous works.