Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
The Art Newspaper
'The Rembrandt book of first resort... excellent'
Product Description
A biography of Rembrandt examines his most important drawings and paintings, describes his personal life, and assesses his contribution to art.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is a fair introduction to the life and work of possibly the greatest artist the 17th-century Netherlands produced. Author Christopher White pays close attention to Rembrandt's personal circumstances throughout, and as a result builds up a convincing picture of the interplay between his life and his art. In particular, the author suggests a turn towards landscape at the end of the 1630s was in all likelihood occasioned, at least in part, by Rembrandt's desire to escape the distress caused by the deaths of successive children in early infancy, followed by that of his beloved first wife Saskia. White intriguingly traces the toll that debt problems took on Rembrandt in the 1650s, through a focus on a number of the artist's self-portraits from these years.
I have to say that I felt an otherwise reasonable and well-illustrated introduction to Rembrandt was rather lacking in its treatment of some of the major paintings, compared to, say, the discussion of the etchings and drawings. In this otherwise copiously illustrated work, there's no reproduction of, for example, `Belshazzar's Feast' or the psychologically masterful `Abraham and Isaac' (both from the 1630s), or of the later `Return of the Prodigal Son' - and virtually no discussion of them either. As a result, we have only tantalising hints of the psychological depths Rembrandt was capable of achieving, and of how his faith may have informed his work. Missing, too, is any discussion of the wider socio-political context to which some of these paintings, notably `Belshazzar's Feast', may have been alluding. It would have been well worth including this, perhaps sacrificing some of the extensive treatment of Amsterdam's topography that White covers when discussing some of the many landscape drawings/etchings of the city reproduced in the book.
I have to say that I felt an otherwise reasonable and well-illustrated introduction to Rembrandt was rather lacking in its treatment of some of the major paintings, compared to, say, the discussion of the etchings and drawings. In this otherwise copiously illustrated work, there's no reproduction of, for example, `Belshazzar's Feast' or the psychologically masterful `Abraham and Isaac' (both from the 1630s), or of the later `Return of the Prodigal Son' - and virtually no discussion of them either. As a result, we have only tantalising hints of the psychological depths Rembrandt was capable of achieving, and of how his faith may have informed his work. Missing, too, is any discussion of the wider socio-political context to which some of these paintings, notably `Belshazzar's Feast', may have been alluding. It would have been well worth including this, perhaps sacrificing some of the extensive treatment of Amsterdam's topography that White covers when discussing some of the many landscape drawings/etchings of the city reproduced in the book.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
