PICTURE THIS: A First Introduction to Paintings

A visually attractive survey of the styles of Western art as exemplified by 24 well-known paintings, from an illuminated manuscript (c. 1400) to Pollock's Blue Poles: Number II (1952). Woolf, an educator and art historian, knows her subject; she offers historical information and interpretive detail that should awaken interest and understanding, but her approach--with its many intrusive rhetorical questions--is pedantic rather than inspirational. There are few surprises in the works chosen, nor are they all of particular interest to children (e.g., why use late self-portraits of Rembrandt and van Gogh when many other choices from their work would have more appeal?). Including Pre-Raphaelite Millais' Ophelia betrays the book's British origins. Not outstanding, but competently assembled and usable. Glossary; index.