I would like to thank Andrew for allowing me to guest post here. I hope you will enjoy it.
Phyllis Stein.
This morning I accompanied Mr. & Mrs. Ha to the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum so they could continue their education in art appreciation. I was surprised to see how much time they spent searching for canine elements in paintings. The old masters were quite rewarding. I had never looked at it quite from their perspective before but I am sure it has a lot of validity. Here I share some examples. Firstly 2 dogs examining a human skull (which Mrs. Ha thinks is just a canvas bag – but if it is then it contains a human skull). Sadly the artist has docked the dog’s tail on the right, a practice we frown upon today. Also the Canine Association of America no longer has human skulls on its recommended food list. Beware.
Next a clear error on the part of the artist. Dogs are not allowed in wet markets and if they were they would surely chase away a stork. Andrew also told me he had to work this picture hard in Lightroom to bring out the detail. A good artist would have done this himself. 
Self-explanatory. Dog with blanket. Gets a tick.
The artist has made a grave error here as this dog is sneaking under a car park barrier. Everyone knows that car parks did not have barriers in the 17th century. It was all free parking.
This artist should have known better – clearly signed by a chap called Gauguin. The caption says these are dogs but Andrew thinks the lower one is a cat. Artists should always be very clear if they are trying to be realistic. Dogs and cats don’t look alike.This just gives a bad impression. 
A ghastly thing next – a lapdog. Unrecognisable. Should never have been given gallery space. Andrew & Shirley agreed.
Here is a real dog. He’s on the left.
There were quite a few modern works on show. I tried to convince Mrs. Ha that PP could really paint. She said it was a load of old cock and bull. And here they are to prove it. Bull first.
We did find one picture by PP that suggested he had been quite good once.
Its principal failing is the absence of a dog so it doesn’t really cut the mustard but not bad for a beginner. Andrew suggested adding a dog now. I’ll discuss this with the curator.
There is so much more to come but I have to draw a line under things here. Tomorrow we may go for advanced critiques including some Kandinsky and maybe even a Roy Luxembourg. We’ll see whether their flight to Venice lands in time.
Then it was back to the hotel for a balcony scene. Shirley, Shirley, wherefore art thou, Shirley?
Three random shots to close out the trip as we fly back to HK tomorrow.
A Charlie Chaplin performer – we saw him many times and I enjoyed his little turns.
And to close on, the elegance of Venezia. Madam, I could not resist this. I am sorry. Bellissima.
This has been best month ever for stats. Thank you all for the support as I have been a receiver more than a giver this month. There is a lot more to share but tomorrow afternoon we head for Doha then on to Hong Kong and chaos.
