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REMBRANDT'S EYES

An elegantly written, rewardingly exhaustive survey of the life, work, and world of the 17th-century Dutch master. Schama (Landscape and Memory, 1995, etc.) has produced a work of breathtaking ambition in which he tackles history, biography, religion, commerce, and art. He meticulously surveys Rembrandt’s work, describing in lucid detail the paintings, the painter, and the painter’s world. Since the young Rembrandt was so influenced by the older Peter Paul Rubens, Schama extensively analyzes Rubens’ own life and work. Schama also describes how the Protestant Reformation devastated Holland. Catholic Spain held Holland as part of its Empire, and terrorized those who sought Dutch independence in politics or religion. “In Holland in the late 1620s,” notes Schama, “Scripture was politics.” Rembrandt’s native Leiden, a hotbed of Calvinist theology, was especially rife with violent religious schisms. Meanwhile, Leiden was growing rich from the textile trade. Many of Rembrandt’s early patrons were wealthy merchants who viewed art as a means of showing off their success and exalting their character. Later, Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam, where the merchants were even richer. Schama takes us on a chronological tour of Rembrandt’s work, providing illuminating commentaries and fitting each painting into the artist’s overall development. Schama knows his art history, especially Rembrandt’s crucial role: “Rembrandt’s economy of eloquence was of a piece with his approach to history painting, where he had already stripped away the clutter of detail distracting from the essential core of a narrative.” Rejecting the elaborate flourishes of the Italian masters, Rembrandt became the subtlest, most intimately interior painter of his time. The breathtaking expressiveness of his details and his eloquence in slight shadings of light and color make viewing Rembrandt’s work an unforgettable experience. For those trying to understand Rembrandt and his art, this book—combining dispassionate scholarship with an obvious delight in its subject’s brilliance—is simply a must.

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 1999

ISBN: O-679-40256-X

Page Count: 728

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955

ISBN: 0670717797

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

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