Treasured favourites from the stunning Leeds Art Gallery collection are being unwrapped for a unique new “art advent” this month. Members of the gallery’s team have selected their best-loved artworks and will be sharing their personal stories of why they love each one, with a different piece set to be unveiled each day throughout December.

Whatever​ the Laughing Cavalier is so pleased about, I’ve no wish to know. That bumptious bar-room menace from the Wallace Collection has me taking to my heels. I gravitate instead towards a black-hatted roué from the Fitzwilliam, more at ease with his slouch and sad wry smile. Elsewhere in the National Gallery’s Frans Hals exhibition