Letter: Artistic amendment

Sir: I notice that where the portrait of Myra Hindley has been removed from the Royal Academy's "Sensation" exhibition, there is now a sign explaining that the work "has been defaced by vandals".

The RA's own Norman Rosenthal writes in the exhibition catalogue that "It has always been the job of artists to conquer territory that hitherto has been taboo". Would it not be more accurate, therefore, for the RA to explain that the Hindley portrait has been "amended" by a number of conceptual artists who have dared to conquer the RA's taboo about the moral freedom of art?

Dr NIGEL VAUX HALLIDAY

Liss, Hampshire