I’m a real culture vulture, me.

The other week my wife and I went to a special exhibition of Canaletto paintings in Bath, followed by a trip to the National Gallery in London to see yet more Canalettos (you might have guessed who my favourite artist is at the moment).

I like to think I know a bit about it, and they didn’t give me an O Level in art for nothing, either. And if you want my opinion, an exhibition currently taking place in Swindon is as impressive as anything you can see in Bath or London.

You’d better hurry, though, because it ends on Wednesday.

It features 60 paintings and drawings by Frank Quinton, whose atmospheric scenes are so captivating, I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that even Canaletto would be proud of them. It is hard to believe works of such supreme quality are on display in Swindon, but there is a good reason: Quinton lived here for most of his life, and loved to paint views of his home town.

And at a time when Swindon Borough Council is being berated for hiding our light under their bushel, by failing to reopen the Bath Road museum and art gallery after lockdown, this exhibition could not be more topical or timely.

But it is mostly thanks to local historian John Stooke, who has gone to a lot of trouble and personal expense to stage it in the Brunel Centre (upstairs, between Waterstones and M&S, 10am-5.30pm), helped by a generous donation of a vacant shop unit.

John has also published a stunning but affordable new book about the artist’s life and works, ultimately in aid of charity, which involved persuading the many different private owners of original paintings and drawings to give him access to them.

The same people also unanimously allowed him to borrow them for the exhibition.

Sadly, managers at STEAM, which has five original Frank Quintons (but not on public display) informed John that they were too busy to let him borrow and display theirs, even though you might think that as taxpayers in Swindon, they surely belong to us.

I understand that, after a direct appeal to our cultural overlords in the council chamber, someone has relented and allowed the paintings to be brought out at a later date, but they are not in this important exhibition, where they clearly belong.

This contempt for another Swindonian giving his own time to raise the town’s cultural game has left us concluding, once again, that art and heritage is furthered in this town not because of SBC, but despite them.

And so much for their supposed ambition of making our artworks more accessible.

But let’s not end on a negative note, because if you want to understand why other Swindon folk are so proud of their art and other heritage, then this unique bringing together of Frank Quinton’s glorious works is the perfect example.

You will kick yourself if you miss it.