Rembrandt's Eyes

Simon Schama's journey through the painting and politics of the Seventeen Provinces, soon to become modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands, is the usual joy of extraordinarily readable and quirky erudition and instinctive insight into a painter's world view and thought processes. Lavishly illustrated - we all enjoy the pictures! - the reader enjoys a real portmanteau of a book that covers much of the work and life of the scholarly yet as life-embracing Peter Paul Rubens as well as the in-depth study of Rembrandt with the added extras of fascinating insights into the lives and spheres of influence of a large number of artists, statesmen, scholars, burghers and nobles of the age. Indulge the senses in the artistic riches of this book but be aware that for Schama, the horror of the Wars of Religion and the trials and tribulations of the human condition as well as its triumphs are never far below the often glittering surface.

If you ar elokking for a book with pictures of Rembrandt's paintings and a short description of what they are buy another book, but if you are in the mood for Rembrandt in his time, learn more about the political changes in the low lands in Rembrandt's time this is it...Read about the artists that influenced Rembrandt (Pieter Paul Rubens being one) and how Rembrandt becane the toast of the town.So if you are interested in art, and history, this is your book, this is your writer.

Previous reviews have mentioned the length and it's true 700 pages is a feat of readership as well as authorship but I enjoyed the comparison with Ruebens which seems one of Schama's theories about why Rembrandt in the end made such a mess of his personal life. I knew very little about art and nothing about Rembrandt and learnt about his life and times, Rubens and the subtleties of his painting. Schama's style is at times over-enthusiastic but also entertaining and downright funny. I greatly enjoyed this book, although losing a hundred pages might have made it less daunting. Which hundred though ? I really enjoyed the scandal of Ruebens and the important comparison, so wouldn't have missed it. Enjoyable.

The book is great however it was from a library as the security sticker us still in the back and the date stamp has been torn out so not happy about that at all

I love Simon Schama as a historian but this is overworked and full of detail that is not relevant to the study of Rembrandt such as the father of Rubens' love life!!! It is a heavy book, literally and hard to hold and handle. It is interesting but it is overworked and hard going. More succinct next time please. It remains a great work though and an incredible academic achievement.

Very well written (and often witty) book with an impressive iconography that includes less known works. However, Simon Schama is a very prolific writer who seems to have problems monitoring his huge documentation. He seems to be unable to draft shorter synthesis (that was already an issue with "The Embarrassment of Riches"), in that particular case it seems he had enough material for two books: one on Rubens, and another one on Rembrandt (and this is exactly what S.Alpers did although with a different perspective two different but concise books). Typically part two, some 150 pages, deals only with Rubens. Rubens resurfaced at the beginning of chapter 9. One could understand/ admit the sections dealing with the paintings of Rubens but the section on Rubens's father love affair with the princess of Orange seems a bit out of focus.The author cannot refrain from comments or remarks that may not be necessary, and are very often "undocumented speculation", like this sentence on Rembrandt's perception of Titian: "...mistily lyrical atmospherics of the venetian artist, whom he certainly admired to the point perhaps of adulation", perhaps for sure. Or describing the portrait of Jan Six as "..the greatest portrait of the seventeenth century", may be, but other art historians may disagree. The discussion about the portrait of Aristotle (pp. 584-585) or portrait of Homer is a far cry from what art historians like Panofsky or Gombrich could have done using a sound methodology.to sum it up interesting but wordy and therefore disappointing. concision can be a quality!

I was really looking forward to this book, and I've stuck with it for about 300 pages, but honestly, enough is enough.I like background detail. i really do. It makes the times come alive for me. But there are limits. My first shock was that after an initial few pages about Rembrandt, the focus switched to Rubens for a couple of hundred pages.Well... Ok... I like Rubens. But seriously, the level of detail in this book is such that I started to find myself wondering if I was going to get a description of what Rubens had for breakfast on the morning of June 17, or the number of stones in his gravel driveway.By about page 300, I was skimming, and shortly after that, I just gave up.I'm sure there are people who love books like this, but it's not for me.

Utterly brilliant biography. I read this shortly before going to the Rembrandt exhibition at the National Gallery and Schama's arguments really put his works into perspective. This may be a very large book but Schama's style keeps you turning page after page. The quality of the images in the book is also excellent. I'll definitely refer to this book again!