An Antiquarian's Tale

Last week, I wrote that people buying and selling have what I would call a moral obligation to treat each other fairly. This is where human nature runs into a...

Value is a topic that comes up in the world of antiques all the time. It is not only problematic, it is THE problem facing all sellers of used stuff--how...

The artist is occasionally revered and sometimes maligned in literature. And they are often maligned in the press as I remember how Picasso was vilified for his arrogance when I...

Humanity's interest in itself, the history, its possessions, the successes and failures--teaching tools, really--are one reason why museums exist. Museums are developed and run and subsidized by all of us in...

I was chatting about the English rooms at the Met with a friend recently and I was going on about how middle class England slowly developed through the 18th century...

I have often wondered if it is possible to measure aesthetic pleasure. One way a lot of us try to do it, for example, is to go to a museum, like...