Mr NYC in London's National Gallery

In a city as crazily expensive as London, one if its greatest treasures in totally free -- the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.  

A stunningly gorgeous collection of classical paintings, it's a feast for the eyes.

During my recent visit, I paid a short visit and saw lots of great stuff. What follow are just a few selections.

First was the special exhibit about St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century Catholic friar and mystic who founded the Franciscans. Pope Francis takes his name from him, sharing with his namesake a commitment to a life of service and helping the poor.

There were lots of paintings and sculptures of St. Francis on display, including clips of movies that were made about him. My favorite was this -- a hollowed out tree that's an example of "poor art" or art repurposed out of nature. The hollowed out tree reveals its history, its dimensions, its deeper meaning. I really loved it:

Moving on, there was a large-scale drawing by Leonardo Da Vinci of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, being comforted by her mother St. Anne.

Another was a portrait of a woman named Christina of Denmark (who was also Duchess of Milan) whose family sent this portrait to King Henry VIII to consider her as his next wife (after Jane Seymour died). It goes without saying that she didn't get the gig -- and it probably saved her life (not to mention she didn't have to sleep with that gross monster):

Then I saw some other gorgeous paintings, including one of St Mark's Square in Venice by Canoletto and "Two Crabs" by Vincent Van Gogh:

Two of my favorite paintings were ...

A beautiful, peacefully serene portrait of a Finnish lake:

And just to bring everything full circle, a painting by George Bellows from 1912 that portrays ... drumroll ... New York City harbor! A painting of day laborers waiting to get picked up for work, the towers of lower Manhattan rising in the background. It was a happy surprise, and an example of the New World being heralded in the old.