Missing things

When was the last time you saw or heard a reference to The Laughing Cavalier? It's variously described as one of the most famous portraits in the world, and I recall it being alluded to and parodied often in my childhood, in numerous media. But, needless to say, that was an increasingly long time ago, and I cannot honestly recall the last time I came across a mention of this painting. Several years at the very least. By comparison the Mona Lisa still pops up with near alarming regularity, along with a host of Van Goghs, and Michelangelos and other assorted famed artworks.

I'm given to wonder what has changed. Two possibilities spring to mind:

The first is that information now comes to me through sources that I either had no interest in, or were unavailable to me as a child, and perhaps the good cavalier and I simply associate in different info-social circles these days.

The second, and more melancholy, is that perhaps our dashing cavaliers' time in the sun has passed. Could it be true that fame is fleeting even for works of arts? Perhaps a little less fleet than for us mere mortals, but fleeting none-the-less. Would, I wonder, children in schools today be as familiar with this particular masterpiece as I was? Maybe they are, but if not, does that mean it's started on a slow spiralling descent into obscurity? 'Twould be a sad fate indeed.

I hope it's the former.