The Art of Describing
Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century
Recommended by John Harrison (Eton College), and 1 others. See all reviewsRanked #71 in Art History
"The art historian after Erwin Panofsky and Ernst Gombrich is not only participating in an activity of great intellectual excitement; he is raising and exploring issues which lie very much at the centre of psychology, of the sciences and of history itself. Svetlana Alpers's study of 17th-century Dutch painting is a splendid example of this excitement and of the centrality of art history among current disciples. Professor Alpers puts forward a vividly argued thesis. There is, she says, a truly fundamental dichotomy between the art of the Italian Renaissance and that of the Dutch masters. . . .... more
Reviews and Recommendations
We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Art of Describing from the world's leading experts.
John Harrison (Eton College) This is a wonderful book, but it is not an easy read. She’s arguing that maps and mapping are a way of understanding much of Dutch art. She’s absolutely brilliant in the way that she shows that Dutch art is, in many ways, following the mariners, the tradition of seagoing. (Source)
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