Sometimes, it’s nice to be reminded of the magic that comes from standing in front of a work of art in person. The Met’s latest podcast, a discussion worth listening to between two greats–Philippe de Montebello and curator Keith Christiansen–on the famous Duccio acquisition did just that for me tonight.

This tiny “street art” installation has been making the rounds across the internet lately.  Its whimsical concept is a fun and clever take on installation art by an artist named Slinkachu — I only wish I lived in London so I could run into (or perhaps more accurately, try not to step on!) one of these little installations one day.

A view of the street…	…and a closeup.

View more, read the blog, and buy the book at the Little People blog.

Oh my goodness! I’ve just found the most amazing art history website I’ve seen in a while, and I’m pretty picky, I have to say. Plus, if it’s related to something you’re supposed to be writing a 20-page paper on, it’s not procrastinating, right? Anyway, the website is EssentialVermeer.com, and though it doesn’t seem to have been updated in a while, it’s absolutely a treasure trove of Vermeer goodies. My favorite part is the virtual museum (although they don’t call it that) of all of Vermeer’s works of art in scale with each other. A truly wonderful use of the internet—most of Vermeer’s works are much too fragile to travel far, and most will probably never travel out of their home museums, so being able to see them all like this is just awesome.  (Almost as good as the real thing, though there is nothing like seeing an actual Vermeer!)