This is the Scuolo Grande di San Rocco in Venice, and it needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. But what’s especially interesting about it is that this was not a palace, it was a meeting room for merchants.

These merchants, partly by the accidents of place and time, were prospering mightily and decided that they wanted to beautify their meeting house. There may have been some lesser impulses involved (“Ours is better than theirs”), but the overriding impulse was to build beauty into their lives. They could have spent their money on other things, of course.

Seeing beauty as a regular part of our daily lives matters a great to us internally, as Goethe noted very well:

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”

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So, before going back to the mundane, consider how you can build some beauty into your life. Pick something that appeals to you, rather than something that will impress or please someone else. What have you seen that resonated with something good inside of you? Get a copy and put it up.