Rembrandt's 'Bathsheba Reading King David's Letter'

by Ann Jensen Adams (Editor)

Overview

Rembrandt's masterful Bathsheba Reading King David's Letter is unusual both as a history painting and as a portrayal of a nude. Instead of displaying a sumptuous body for the viewer's delectation, Bathsheba elicits our empathy. This collection of essays by six leading Rembrandt scholars examines its qualities from perspectives ranging from changing perceptions of female beauty and the nude, to technical analysis, and biographical and psychological analysis of the artist, the subject, and the viewer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521459860
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/13/1998
Series:	Masterpieces of Western Painting
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction: perspectives on Rembrandt and his works Ann Jensen Adams; 1. Rembrandt's Bathsheba: the object and its transformations Ernst van de Wetering; 2. Rembrandt's Bathsheba and the conventions of a seductive theme Eric Jan Sluijter; 3. An incomparable Bathsheba Leo Steinberg; 4. Reading Bathsheba: from mastercodes to misfits Mieke Bal; 5. Not Bathsheba: I. The painter and the model Svetlana Alpers; II. Uriah's gaze Margaret D. Carroll; 6. 'Though deficient in beauty': the reluctant, then hyperbolic reception of a masterpiece Gary Schwartz.

Editorial Reviews

"Ann Adams's introduction deftly presents current Rembrandt studies and critical presentation of the following essays, making the connections and distinctions in theit approaches. For students, this sampling of approaches with respect to a single art work is a rich opportunity to gain access to the discipline of art history, which is, by its definition and essence, interdisciplinary in material and methodology." Amy Golahny, Historians of Netherlandish Art Newsletter

"...essential reading not only for their respective pictures, but for their respective artists...the essays work collectively to round out understanding of a key work and remind us of why scholarly attention has created a canon." Renaissance Quarterly

From the Publisher