In memoriam Walter Liedtke

My favorite memory of Walter Liedtke was when he was giving our intern group a tour of the Dutch and Flemish Galleries of the Met, and, gesticulating vigorously, he unintentionally, unmistakably, loudly, rapped the surface of one of the Met's Vermeers with his knuckle.

The whole gallery went absolutely silent.

And he just went on... "When you're a curator, you can do that sort of thing!" 

What a tremendous loss.