INTRODUCTION TO REMBRANDT

by Kenneth Clark ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22, 1978

Kenneth Clark, who appears to know about everything, knows Rembrandt best, and to have his knowledge and insight distilled into 150 pages with 167 supporting illustrations is to have truffles on the breakfast table. In a commanding opening sequence, he transforms self-portraiture into self-revelation, even as Rembrandt did. Snarling visages (in little-known drawings), flamboyant fancydress poses, merciless self-exposure, and--in the famous Frick portrait--""the embodiment of philosophic calm"": this, at root, was a rebel. Section two explores ""what he was rebelling against"": empty artistic convention, whether classical or baroque. And the shadowy Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis gives him the opportunity, like Shakespeare, ""to insert into an episode of primitive grandeur the lifegiving roughage of the grotesque."" Clark incorporates biographical details into the ensuing story of Rembrandt's success, challenging previous assumptions by citing what can be seen, building a picture of domestic contentment as a prelude to stern withdrawal. Grandeur and austerity conjoin in the great etching Christ Presented to the People, the particular and the universal fuse in the infinitely touching Jewish Bride; and Clark is ready for his final chapter on ""Rembrandt and the Bible,"" the human and the divine. The unfolding of the thesis is itself a drama--first presented on British television--and if the small scale of some of the reproductions hardly does justice to the subjects, few readers will not be impelled, in any case, to search out any originals they can find. This is what art is all about, and Clark is the exceptional scholar who has the right words for it.

Pub Date: Feb. 22, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION