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Rubens A&I (Art and Ideas) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kristin Lohse Belkin
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 147624
Media: Paperback
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0714834122
Dewey Decimal Number: 759.9493
EAN: 9780714834122
ASIN: 0714834122
Publication Date: October 22, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Former Library book. Binding is slightly damaged and/or book has some loose pages. No missing pages. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Product Description
One of the most versatile and influential artists of northern Europe in the 7th century, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) had a remarkable ability to bring his paintings intensely and joyfully alive. He was a successful businessman who ran an efficient studio, and was also a classical scholar, an enthusiastic collector of art and antiquities, and a respected diplomat on intimate terms with European royalty. Contemporaries admired his extraordinary artistic versatility. His paintings include portraits, altarpieces, allegories and landscapes; he also designed tapestries, book illustrations, silverware and his own home. In this study, Kristin Lohse Belkin shows that there is more to Rubens than the Rubenesque nude. She explores his techniques and workshop practices, the role of women in his life and art, and his engagement with contemporary issues of Church and state. She unravels the allegorical and iconographic content of key works, situating them within their original settings. Drawing on his extensive correspondence, she traces his involvement in the events of his time.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Wonderful Introduction December 10, 1999
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
I read this book for an upper-level college art history class and loved every page. I was actually sad that I finished the book! Few art history books combine the stunning visual images and masterful prose that this one does. A very interesting and informative book that will introduce you to one of the most under-appreciated artists - the genius Peter Paul Rubens.
 How much of this work is original? September 3, 2005
Peter Goldstein (Huntingdon, PA United States)
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
The blurb on the back of this book calls Kristin Lohse Belkin a "Rubens specialist," and the book itself, lively and informative, does seem to be the work of someone who knows her subject. Why, then, would she have to copy a book written thirty years ago? On page 60 of the Time-Life volume The World of Rubens, 1577-1640, by C. V. Wedgwood (1967), we find the following description of the painting "Prometheus Bound":
"According to Classical legend, Prometheus stole the secret of fire from the gods and gave it to man. To punish him for this misdemeanor, Zeus bound him to a rock where he was to be tormented for all time by a devouring eagle. In painting his larger-than-life-sized picture, Rubens created a powerful effect by showing Prometheus with massive foreshortened limbs and by having the eagle's wings span the captive giant in a great predatory arc."
On pages 129 and 132 of Belkin's book, we find the following:
"According to classical legend, the demigod Prometheus stole the secret of fire from the gods and gave it to man. To punish him, Zeus, the ruler of the gods, bound him to a rock where he was to be tortured for all time by an eagle who fed on his liver. In this larger-than-life picture, Rubens created a powerful effect by showing Prometheus in strong foreshortening, his massive thighs drawn up in pain. The eagle's wings are spread wide so that they span the captive giant in a victorious arc."
One hopes the copying is unique and unconscious (the Wedgwood book, by the way, appears in the bibliography at the back of Belkin's book), but it doesn't inspire confidence in the author's originality.
Best history book I have ever read! February 25, 2006
C. Strasbaugh (Dalton, OH United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Being in an art history masters program, I have read many books. However, this Rubens book as well as any other book by the same press seem to capture attention through clever stories about the artist as well have great pictures. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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