Raphael up close

This month, the Portland Art Museum has a one painting exhibit by the famous Renaissance artist Raphael. The painting is "La Velata" (woman with the veil) and is one of Raphael's most famous portraits. He painted it between 1514 and 1515, which makes the painting almost 500 years old.
The museum has it displayed in an almost tomb like sapce in the second floor gallery at the Southeast corner of the building. Itis a dark space where velvet curtains have been draped. The painting is displayed in perfect light on the West wall of the space, making it the only bright spot in the room. I guess that I was not surprised to see a treasure treated with such reverence.
It was fun to see such an old painting up close. It is in very nice shape, with only slight cracking of the paint and must have been restored fairly recently.
Was I moved? Not really, but it is a beautiful piece to be sure. Did I have great admiration for the piece, absolutely!
I have not seen the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci in person, but I did see an exhibit which had a close replica. The Mona Lisa has a lot more mystery to it and got me going a lot more than La Velata. La Velata has a real calm feel to it and as expertly crafted as it is, it lacks depth as far as I am concerned.
Ha, maybe some wanabe pipsqueek artist will say something like that about one of my paintings.
I can dream can't I?