To some scoffers, the nation's capital is the city of the hard nose, the tough work and the political thumb in the eye. But last week it became, for a few exalted hours, something much different. This was the occasion of the unveiling of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, lent by France to the U.S. for a few precious weeks.* It required something special—and that was what it got.
The evening began in the candlelit dining room at the French embassy. There, Ambassador and Madame Hervé Alphand were hosts at a dinner and a...
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