Gauguin carvings steal the show

This extraordinary collection never aims to be a comprehensive review of 5,000 years of human artistic creativity, but is a collection of tasteful, informed and considered artefacts from the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman eras, Denmark's golden age and 19th and 20th-century French art.

It was brought together by Carl and Helge Jacobsen, whose family established the Carlsberg brewery in Denmark.

We have the rare chance to see the collection because the Glyptotek, where the collection is usually displayed, is currently undergoing refurbishment.

From the stunning Egyptian tablets and statues, which include gods, kings, princes, a mongoose and a hippopotamus, this exhibition is a classical odyssey through Greek, Etruscan and Roman sculpture which charts the rise and fall of empires and fortunes and the changing tastes and styles as Greek and Roman pieces become increasingly similar.

Much of the collection is funerary. A beautifully carved child's sarcophagus depicting the story of Jonah and the Whale, marble figures lounging decadently upon their own coffins and hollow figures whose heads conceal their own ashes. It is rare to see such magnificent artefacts in such abundance.

The charming landscapes and interiors by Ecksberg, Kobke and Bendz, whose studies in Italy led to the development of a distinct Danish school, are on display.

French art was another favourite of the Jacobsen family.

The collection reflects this with exquisite works of some of France's most monumental artists - Manet's Absinth Drinker, several Corots, Sisleys, Monets, Toulouse Lautrecs and Cezannes to name but a few.

Also gracing the collection is Delaplanche's Music, Rodin's The Thinker and works by Maillol and Roussel, a series of small-scale studies by Degas, intended as private investigations of the female form.

Even the great avant-garde artists Picasso and Matisse are represented by sculpture.

It is Gauguin, however, who steals the show with his primitive carvings and vivid, earthy paintings of exotic scenes, notably Tahitian Landscape with Figures, which has never been seen before in Britain.

At the Royal Academy until December 10.

ALEX HOLROYD