The Doge's Head

In China, there was a mythical monster called Taotie.

It had a sheep's body and a human face, with eyes beneath its armpits, tiger's teeth, and human hands. Its cry sounded like an infant's. This ravenous beast was so gluttonous that it ate even its own body. In other words, Taotie was depicted as a human head with a pair of very cute "tiger fangs."

It was a "beautiful monster." One was more than enough, yet people still hoped there could be more Taotie. Fortunately, they could be told apart, because they had no eyes on their faces—but a pair could be painted on, just as Venetian wealthy people painted fake windows after sealing up the real ones for the sake of appearances.

Although Venice's achievements in sculpture were as great as those in painting, Michelangelo was still the more famous name in the eyes of nonprofessionals.

Fame was very important to artists. Van Gogh had little fame while he was alive, but after his death, his paintings sold for astronomical prices. Fine, he was a genius, but art dealers would watch geniuses perish before their eyes, watch them struggle to die in poverty and the pain of being unrecognized by the world, then wildly promote their pitiful stories once they were dead.

People had forgotten the frenzy caused by Dutch tulips, though other flowers had later been hyped up as well. Those who could truly appreciate them were few; the overwhelming majority merely followed the crowd. Even Leonardo da Vinci had failures.

But as long as a work bore Leonardo da Vinci's name, it could basically sell for a high price. Where there was profit to be made, forgeries and fraud followed. Ordinary people could not tell whether a painting was real or fake. No one cared about the