The Vexations of Art: Velazquez and Others [Paperback]

Professor Svetlana Alpers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2007

Now available in paperback

A major art historian reflects on a great tradition of European painting.

 

"The Vexations of Art is an engrossing, passionate attempt to re-engage with painting as a mode of thought at a time when 'it is not clear in what form the resource of painting—for surely painting has been a singular resource of the greater European culture—will continue."—Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times

 

"[A] fascinating book that will surely generate discussion for some time to come."—Mindy Nancarrow, Renaissance Quarterly

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'The Vexations of Art is an engrossing, passionate attempt to re-engage with painting as a mode of thought at a time when 'it is not clear in what form the resource of painting - for surely painting has been a singular resource of the greater European culture - will continue.' Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times 'A fascinating book that will surely generate discussion for some time to come.' Mindy Nancarrow, Renaissance Quarterly"

About the Author

Svetlana Alpers is professor emerita of the history of art, University of California, Berkeley, and visiting scholar in the department of fine arts, New York University. She is the author of The Making of Rubens and, with Michael Baxandall, Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence, published by Yale University Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 298 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (December 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300126131
• ISBN-13: 978-0300126136
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #635,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Non ha'l ciel cotanti lumi", February 15, 2007

By 

Doug - Haydn Fan (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Vexations of Art: Velazquez and Others (Hardcover)

Doktor Alpers is one of the Super Novas of Art History, and as the Monteverdi song title suggests, she luminates far more than most of her starry peers. Starting with Rembrandt, along with Rubens the core of artistic values and sensibility for this stellar intelligence, we are taken through a carefully grounded argument, arriving finally at Velazquez, and "The Spinners". Alpers never falters as she unveils a plethora of critical perspectives, analyzes each in a dizzingly narrative convergence, and leaves mere mortal readers to return to her pages and consider the embarras de richesses she bestows. Alpers is never easy, but neither is she deliberately obscure; her chapter on Rembrandt's painting of Bathsheba is a model of clarity: a privileged sharing of Alper's lifetime of considered wisdom.
Alper's books are events in the best sense of the word; each as brilliant as an illuminated book. Her works inevitably follow one all-pervading rule - "Let there be light!" And what better touchstone for an historian of art?