The Books and Arts section of The Economist this week carries a long story about the scholarship, bureaucracy, and chicanery of assembling a show dominated by Titian that will soon open in London and then go to Madrid (“Struggle for Space,” February 8, 2003). The pieces to appear in the show come from all over the world, but mainly from Italy, America, and Russia. Much of the worry of the curators involved concerns the fragility of the exhibits. Although more than half-a-million people are expected to see the blockbuster, one cannot but wonder about the wisdom of the entire enterprise. Fragility is a serious issue, indeed. Titian’s canvases are half-a-millennium old. The milling throngs will not give a damn about individual works. The brushwork will be lost on them. Cheap reproductions would do just fine, but a book or a website would be of more lasting value. The few connoisseurs could easily get the funds for a round-the-world ticket to see everything on show, albeit piecemeal. So, why are such extravaganzas on offer? To feed museums whose financial support from governments is being withdrawn bit by bit. Is that a sufficient reason to expose Titian, among others, to calamity?