How long should you spend looking at a Titian?

Great art can look a little less great when you have an elbow in your ribs

I once made a bet with an art college lecturer friend of mine that she could not demonstrate that any painting was as complex or thought provoking as a Shakespeare play. She took me to look at a work by Titian. I will leave to another column who won the bet; but I do remember studying that painting for a very long time and, needless to say, finding more and more layers, not just of craftsmanship, but of thought in it the longer I lingered.

Such an exercise would, of course, be impossible at the current Titian exhibition at the National Gallery. As with any blockbuster you can't linger too long and you have to expect big crowds. But does there come a point when the crowds are too big, the jostling too irritating and the noise too distracting for any real enjoyment, let alone serious appreciation?

To judge from the letters column of this paper this week, that point has been reached. "Just moving from picture to picture is a challenge," wrote one reader. Another made the good point that it was especially annoying given that a £1.75 charge was made for each advance booking.

Charles Saumarez Smith, the director of the National Gallery has also written to us, to answer his critics. He neglected to address the point about booking fees (how quickly art gallery directors learn from theatre managers) but he did respond to the overcrowding accusations. Opening hours had been extended, he said. He added: "We have installed a timed ticket system in order to combat excessive overcrowding and have thought long and hard about the appropriate balance between allowing as many as possible to visit this popular exhibition whilst, at the same time, enabling them to enjoy the experience."

It is to his credit that Mr Saumarez Smith has addressed the criticisms; but his response is highly unsatisfactory. We know he has installed a timed ticket system. The point is that it doesn't appear to be achieving the objective of enabling people to view in comfort.

The difficulties that readers have experienced are instructive. One never hears of viewing problems from critics, of course, as they see the art at delightfully uncrowded private views. But viewing comfort is an essential part of the gallery-going experience for everyone else too. Great art can look just a little less great when you have an elbow in your ribs.

We need a "blockbuster policy" from the heads of our national institutions. Please, Mr Saumarez Smith, make public your "long and hard" thinking about this. What length of time did you decide that people need in front of a Titian painting? Is your optimum number of people per time slot (currently 180) the right figure? Why did you decide on half-hour intervals rather than an hour? Such seemingly utilitarian considerations are now a part of the cultural debate.

* Granada TV has set up a scheme to help soap stars combat "the pressures of traumatic storylines, gruelling schedules and excessive public exposure," it says on the front page of The Stage this week. The initiative follows discussions with Equity, the actors' union, and is aimed particularly, though not exclusively, at younger performers. It is not just a matter of counselling. New cast members of Coronation Street will be given regular medicals. I write on hesitantly as I know that readers' tears will by now be staining the page. Do your hearts not go out to these twerps who confuse the scripts they are learning with real life? Can you not empathise with the pain of being photographed drinking champagne in a night club? Is there not something Victorian about those gruelling schedules? Nurses, teachers, firefighters, be grateful you are not lying exhausted in a Green Room right now. And be sorry that you don't have employers as caring and as deeply pathetic as Granada.

* Despite Darcey Bussell being unable to complete the performance because of a foot injury, the Royal Ballet's premiere of its new production of Sleeping Beauty had a tremendous sense of occasion, and contained enough wonderful dancing to send me to the company's website to see what else it had in store. This proved an odd and not very inclusive experience. The page on The Sleeping Beauty, for example, tells you who is responsible for the lighting, but gives no details of who is dancing, even though some balletomanes might argue that Ms Bussell is more important than the lighting man.

When I did find a page with cast names, I was told: "All casting subject to change. E&OE." I thought I knew a bit about the arts; but I confess I hadn't a clue what E&OE stands for (I now gather it is a legal term). The next announcement was, by contrast, utterly informal. It said: "Due to injury, Jonathan is replaced in his performances by Inaki Urlezaga and Thiago Soares." It's all very chummy, but there might just be some ticket buyers, especially first-time ticket buyers, who don't know who Jonathan is. Go on, slip in a last name. If Rudolf could use one, so can Jonathan.

d.lister@independent.co.uk