I grew up with this Lalique vase in the entryway to our home. It was one of several pieces that my Grandmother bought in Paris in June of 1929. I know this because my father told me. The time of the purchase seemed significant as it was only a few months before THE CRASH. Later I discovered a receipt, which seems to be about the delivery of several other Lalique items — an ashtray, a box, and a perfume bottle — to her room at Hotel Crillon.

You know when there is a painter you really love, where everything about their work excites you and you go in the studio and spend all your time trying to avoid that person's work?

While in Paris, Dégas' close friend Giovanni Boldini painted a still life on a canvas that measured 47 1/4 inches high by 15 1/4 inches wide.

Morandi lived with his three unmarried sisters in a dingy apartment in the northern Italian town.  He was unmarried and a loner, perhaps even suffering from agoraphobia.

Many years ago, when I was thinking about doing some still lifes, I bought a book published by Abrams called Still Life: A History. In it I found a painting by Giovanni Boldini, Corner of the Painter’s Table. It was an oil on canvas from 1890, and the dimensions seemed odd to me: 47 1/4 inches by 15 1/4 inches, or 120 x 38.5 cm.