Gerald David (1460-1523)
Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1510)
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Beauty Beauty— you can't define it but you know when you see it. You're stopped in your tracks when it comes— and you just say "Wow!" On his first meeting with Tagore, Bertrand Russell's first words were "What is Beauty?" Einstein also asked the poet: "What is Truth?" Perhaps Keats hit it on the head— "Beauty is Truth, Truth, Beauty, That is all you know on earth, and all you ever need to know." Seeing a beautiful woman, you're wordless and silent. Seeing a glorious sunset, you wish it will last forever. Listening to Zipoli's Ascension, lifts you to heaven. Seeing David's Flight into Egypt, you taste the sweetness of grapes. Beauty heightens all your senses as well as awakens your mind. Most of all it touches your heart, transforms and changes your life.         — Peter Y. Chou             Mountain View, 12-12-2013