Chapter 4

“And, the Musée du Louvre?”

I stopped, taken aback. I confessed that I hadn’t visited the Louvre Museum. “I tend to gravitate more to the unusual, I guess.”

The man nodded. “That is well, but you must visit the Louvre before you leave our city.”

I said I would, and asked him if he had any suggestions on which works or artists I should see during my visit to that museum.

“Corot,” he said without hesitation, smiling and nodding. Then he got up and went to one of the bookshelves, removing a large volume, which he handed to me. It was entitled Trésors du LouvreTreasures of the Louvre. There were several paper bookmarks.

“The third one.” He gestured, and I opened to the page.

“It is called The Bridge at Narni.”

I looked at the image…and stared

Incredibly, I had been immediately struck with a powerful sense of what is called aesthetic arrest—similar to that I had experienced in King’s College Chapel, but more intense, as if—concentrated.