Incisive art criticism, many enlivening anecdotes, and excellent illustrations distinguish this book from other well-researched works about Rembrandt (e.g., by Van Loon, Schmitt, Mens, Mee Jr., and Matton). Schama's own goal in writing, as he has characterized Rembrandt's in art, seems to be to "violate conventional expectations ... but astonish ... with excellence." Blurring the genres of art history and biography, Schama (Columbia Univ.) synthesizes others' rigorous researches and technical studies; the careful student should read the works credited in the footnotes (copious but not complete) before citing this text. Schama's young, ambitious Rembrandt measures himself against Rubens, and his old, diminished Rembrandt paints the imperfections of humanity. Hardly an original thesis, but it is presented with panache. In devoting 150 pages to Rubens, Schama underscores the fascinating relationship between Flemish and Dutch art. For a fuller treatment of Rubens, see Kristin Lohse Belkin's Rubens (1998). The essence of Rembrandt, so earnestly sought by the author, is not found here, nor is it yet contained within a single publication. More thoughtful studies of the integration of Rembrandt's life and art are by Julius S. Held, Rembrandt Studies (1990), and Ernst van de Wetering, Rembrandt: The Painter at Work (1997). Nonetheless, Schama gives an impressive performance in this product of "Rembrandtolatry." All levels. A. Golahny; Lycoming College

In this fresh, detailed biography, Schama directs our gaze to the famed painter Rembrandt Harmennszoon van Rijn. Rembrandt left a considerable body of work, especially self-portraits. "No other painter before the twentieth century, perhaps no artist ever, has left us with such an exhaustive archive of his face," Schama writes. His painting career was "a forty-year soliloquy, and its inexhaustible, bravura quality inevitably led to the adoption of Rembrandt as the archetype of the self-obsessed artist." Schama explores the painter's complicated life: his birth, marriage, real estate deals, commissions, mistresses, bankruptcy, poverty, and death. But at the center is Rembrandt's obsession: to surpass the Flemish master, Peter Paul Rubens. In his early years, "Rembrandt was utterly in thrall to Rubens... Rembrandt was haunted." But by his career's end, "Rembrandt ended up being the kind of painter Rubens could not even have imagined, much less anticipated." Schama's close examination of a huge body of drawings, etchings, and paintings reflects an extraordinary gift for contextual analysis: we learn not only about Rembrandt's work but about his contemporaries and their art. The book's most vivid passages are set in the studio, where Schama brings to life the materials and techniques of 17th-century oil painting. Though a painter of his age, Rembrandt transcended it: "It's impossible to look at his strongest work, either in painting, drawing, or etching, and still not be struck by the simple truth that he achieved things which, as Durer wrote in another context, `could not in his day be found.'" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Three astute biographies define the temperaments, visions, and milieus of one indisputable master and two controversial modern painters. Both Claridge and Weber have written the first comprehensive biographies of twentieth-century artists infamous for denying their Jewish blood and other truths about their lives, and living flamboyantly as aristocrats. Lempicka and Balthus were each profoundly influenced by Italian Renaissance painters, and each painted unnervingly erotic portraits. But while Balthus' reputation has ascended, Lempicka, dubbed an art deco painter, has been all but forgotten. Claridge tells the remarkable story of Lempicka's life, and suggests why an artist o