Here are my top 12 favourite paintings at the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, housed in London’s Somerset House, founded in 1931 by the textile magnate Samuel Courtauld. It now houses a large collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings. The setting is ideal and the collection small enough to browse through in a few hours. This Palladian building was erected in 1786 when the river still reached the walls. Photography is allowed. There are beautiful fountains in the courtyard.