Picture Perfect

I remember discovering this painting when I was about 9/10 years old on a trip to London. Yesterday I was in The National Gallery and hunted it down again. "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" (Delaroche, 1833) is my favourite painting.



Ignore the subject matter, I just absolutely love this painting, it fascinates me. I could just sit and stare at it. I was trying to think yesterday why a painting with such a dire subject was my favourite, but its the just the art of it all. It's beautiful. You really have to go and and see the real thing to know what I mean but the detail is amazing, absolutely second to none. The folds in her dress, the fur on the priest's coat, the folds in the black fabric in the bottom right hand corner (how to make black fabric interesting!), the pearls in the woman's hand, the skin of every figure. So real and life like. I can't find a fault in this painting.
I know nothing is perfect in this world, but this painting comes pretty close to the perfectly painted picture in my opinion...