The Deal with the Art

Artists are notoriously an unworldly lot; at least where the privilege of patronage has passed from a refined and educated aristocracy to a boorish and sanctimonious mercantile class, and thereby rendered merit essentially irrelevant to success. Even the professional dauber who produced an official portrait of the Trumpster and his head-tribble seems to lack the streak of hard-headed realism necessary to a court hireling in the age of the salesman-emperor. Possibly her British background has left her with an unfortunate susceptibility to American delusions of meritocracy; even so, it is remarkable that any artist in 2019 could enter into a deal with the Trumpster and expect the result to be judged dispassionately, consistently and according to the facts.