Once upon a time, my father told me a story. There was a firm in England that had calculated the Perfect Painting. It had not so much to do with whom the artist was, nor the style it was in or period it was from. It turned out, oddly enough, that the subject was what mattered the most. There were a few things that made me pay attention to my father's story. First, he tells great tales, second, I was not yet a teen-ager, third and why this information has stayed with me over three plus decades is, that I was a budding artist.

The company researched peoples' reaction and response to a multitude of styles and content matter. What they found, overwhelmingly, was that the majority of people had a visceral, emotional response to A) a child with a tear rolling down its cheek and B) a large eyed kitten or puppy. It was so long ago, I don't remember if they felt good or bad about these tears and big eyes. But, it doesn't really matter. All this research had to result in something, right?

A conclusion had been met by those involved: The Perfect Painting would be of a small child, a tear rolling down apple cheeks, having just been nipped by the large eyed puppy gazing, dolefully.