Today was one of those rare perfect days. I awoke perfectly refreshed, swilled a couple of perfect cups of coffee, met with my perfect aunt, cousin, and 2nd cousin, consumed a perfect lunch at the Frist Museum, and then toured the perfectly delightful collection of Dutch Masters that are now on loan at the Frist. It was a perfect day that has segued into a perfect evening.

Though art hogs a lot of space in my life, I'm not much of an art historian. The following are some lay observations regarding the Dutch Masters of the 1500s and 1600s.

1. Most of the paintings had happy dogs romping about the canvas. Lots and lots of romping dogs.

2. Most (if not all) paintings were of ordinary daily life. Landscapes were accented with peasants strolling down country lanes (dogs romping at their sides), or of a barn burning with frantic animals fleeing the flames (dogs dashing ahead of everyone), or kitchens with steamy kettles and such (dogs curled beside the hearth - obviously worn out by all the romping), or gardens and fruited still lifes. I momentarily forgot about romping dogs when I felt *still lifes* didn't look right so I consulted with Professor Google and this was his response: Since in English we don't modify adjectives to reflect plurality of objects and because the phrase "still life" acts as an adjective that describes a noun, we simply throw an 's' on there. And voila - it's "still lifes" What the *bleep*? I've always been challenged by grammatical definitions. There's always waaaay too much dangling.

3. The Dutch Masters were masters of light. Many of the paintings had dark backgrounds so any use of light really popped. I think my exposure to so many California Impressionists has made me more aware of the use of light in paintings. It's mesmerizing for me.

4. I'd forgotten how greatly the Calvinists influenced the Dutch Masters. The following is lifted from Wikipedia: A distinctive feature of the period, compared to earlier European painting, was the small amount of religious painting. Dutch Calvinism forbade religious painting in churches, and though biblical subjects were acceptable in private homes, relatively few were produced. The period is most notable for a huge variety of categories, such as scenes of peasant life, landscapes, townscapes, landscapes with animals, maritime paintings, flower paintings, and romping dogs.

It was the perfect day!