Department store exhibitions are the butterflies of the art scene: blink and they're gone!
Still, it would be a pity to miss the brief display at Takashimaya of the Marubeni Collection. The jewel in the crown is a 15th-century portrait by Botticelli, and it is worth going just to see that. In addition, there are Japanese kimono dating from the 17th century and oil paintings by both European and Japanese artists, emphasizing landscapes and floral still-life paintings. Marubeni has gathered this collection as a design resource, and the landscapes form a particularly interesting group.
Many visitors walked briskly through the first gallery of 18th- and 19th-century landscapes as if they were on a hike. Others lingered to enjoy the views, from a sparkling morning on the Grand Canal, to an atmospheric study of evening skies by the Pre-Raphaelite Sir Edward Burne-Jones.