Kenneth Clark Critical Essay | Critical Review by Richard Beale

Critical Review by Richard Beale

SOURCE: Beale, Richard. Review of Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance, by Kenneth Clark. Library Journal 91 (15 October 1966): 4939.

In the following review, Beale praises the text and presentation of Clark's Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance.

This scholarly study [Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance] provides another valuable insight. Always clear and to the point, Sir Kenneth, former director of the National Gallery, London, and an authority on the Italian Renaissance, shows us that Rembrandt had access to Italian Renaissance sources that scholars in the field have tended to overlook. It would be hard to imagine a more felicitous combination of illustration and text. Throughout, the visual fact asserts itself along with the well-chosen phrase—and one has the feeling that Sir Kenneth's ardor for scholarship and for Rembrandt's art has not prevented him from combining both in an attractive form. Except for a so-so frontispiece in color, the illustrations are...
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