In February 1996, when I was working at the Smithsonian, I wrote an essay about my experience standing in line to see the Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery. I was never able to get anyone to publish it, and since this predated having everything on one hard drive, I lost the essay in the débris of my files. But file archaeology recently turned up the essay, and I thought it might be fun to share it (I haven’t edited it at all), since it seems no less apropos now than when I wrote it. Hopefully the link will open for interested readers