Anything above the standard of "TV Guide I bought down to the Walmarts - it didn't have no cover so they gave it to me half off" is going to be pretentious for many in the United States. Renaissance painters are likely to also be seen as "gay and East Coast fancy" to a wider spectrum of the ignorant. That the book cost $150 makes it even more pretentious in yet a larger Euler's circle comprising an ever-growing segment of the population.