Boy oh! boy.

When one thinks of the greatest accomplishments of western civilizations, whose thoughts do not turn to the soaring egos and imagination of artists of the Renaissance and their patrons? The very touchstone of quality, taste and skill, few things compare in this photographer’s visual cortex.

Yet, at the same time, the same religious beliefs and doctrines which gave the Renaissance its heart and soul have also resulted in some of the most appalling kitsch visited upon humanity.

Along those lines, few stoop as low as the Franciscan’s store in North Beach, replete with horrors like those displayed here:

G1, 23mm, f/5, 1/400, ISO 100

I mean, the jaw simply drops. Absent one tattered tome on Pollaiuolo this very large store was simply filled with this sort of …. well, there’s no other word for it …. crap.