Squee!

The title of this post encapsulates my feelings last night when Dr. Rosand gave me an awesome compliment. He's teaching the Titian seminar I'm sitting in on at Princeton, and during the break he told me how happy he is that I'm in the class and that I'm "a wonderful colleague to have around the table." Hence: squee! Although I think I managed a more calm "Thank you!" David Rosand is one of the foremost Venetian scholars in the world, his CV is about a mile long, his work on Titian is standard to any bibliography, and he thinks I'm making good contributions! Gah.

That was actually just the pick-me-up I needed, because yesterday morning I was getting a bit despondent over the fact that so far nothing has struck me as a possibility for a dissertation topic. I can rattle you off such a list of recent work, that I wish I'd done myself, but avenues for the future? Nada. That's disconcerting, especially since the application for the Cini grant is due in January and is in fact much more restrictive than last year's, with only 3 fellowships open to people who have clearly-defined projects to offer. We're going to Venice even if I don't get one (and I won't, because I have practically nothing even if Dr. Cooper is BFF with the director).

Enough of that. David Rosand thinks I'm awesome and that's enough for this week. To conclude, an image that popped up in someone's presentation last night, a drawing of three nudes by Francesco Salviati, c. 1545. Presented without comment.