Your fawning review of the mounting efforts of the ruling families in the United Arab Emirates to embellish their statelets with museums of contemporary art would be perfectly agreeable without the introductory paragraph linking them to the Medicis and the Renaissance (“Smart Art Mart,” November 22, 2008). No matter how rich or enterprising, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, or Dubai cannot be likened to Florence of old in any meaningful way. Museums designed by the likes of I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, or Zaha Hadid may help put the region on the international cultural circuit, which is now bustling with rich Russians and Indians, but they will have no effect whatsoever on the cultural ferment in the region itself. Docile and vapid, it will remain forever sterile. It is good to remember that art patrons, even when rather discerning, are as good as irrelevant without artists.