Minneapolis Institute of Arts Appreciating this portrait by the French painter Nicolas de Largillière is apparently a matter of taste.The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a new piece of merchandise to offer at its gift shop — not to mention an endearing anecdote that inspired it — following a young art fan’s recent visit to the museum, The Star Tribune reported. On a recent survey of the museum’s Gallery 308, Tim Piowtrowski, a guard there, noticed a little girl who was admiring a 17th-century portrait of the French aristocrat Catherine Coustard, the Marquise of Castelnau, with her son, Léonor, by the French painter Nicolas de Largillière. The young aficionado, whose age was not given, was so taken by the deep blue velvet dress worn by the Marquise in the painting that Mr. Piowtrowski had to admonish her: “Please don’t lick the art,” he said. That phrase now adorns a T-shirt on sale at the museum for $22.50. The painting was unharmed, according to The Star Tribune.
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