Maggie's Farm

We finally found the time to go to the show at the Met which we have been wanting to study: The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini.

They claim, and I suspect it is true, that this is the best show on the evolution of Renaissance portraiture that will be put together in our lifetimes. Is it a niche topic? Heck, everything in life is a niche topic, but I would say that this is a show for those with more than a passing interest in the history of art. The re-secularization of the arts in the European Renaissance was a big deal, but attributing to that period the "rediscovery of the individual" goes overboard.

High points for me were a couple of Botticelli portraits, and the death mask of Lorenzo di Medici. What a cool dude he was.

A few random pics of the East Side of Manhattan today. The East Side streets are never teeming with people like the colorful West Side or downtown neighborhoods where everybody is young and there are tons of people pushing strollers: Here, people mostly have their doorman fetch a cab.