One Hundred Details from the National Gallery

Originally published in 1938 when Kenneth Clark was director of the National Gallery, London, this book presents Clark’s favorite details from paintings in the museum’s collection. Newly updated and handsomely illustrated, this landmark book juxtaposes pairs of details rarely viewed together––such as cupids from Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus and Correggio’s The School of Love––to illuminate fascinating analogies and contrasts between paintings and artists. Clark’s erudite but accessible responses to these works are broad in scope and approach, and range from a few lines to an entire history of the still life. Featuring all new color reproductions, One Hundred Details serves as an introduction to art history and offers a unique and intimate look at these paintings through the discerning eye of a world-renowned art historian and director.

Originally published in 1938 when Kenneth Clark was director of the National Gallery, London, this book presents Clark’s favorite details from paintings in the museum’s collection. Newly updated and handsomely illustrated, this landmark book juxtaposes pairs of details rarely viewed together––such as cupids from Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus and Correggio’s The School of Love––to illuminate fascinating analogies and contrasts between paintings and artists. Clark’s erudite but accessible responses to these works are broad in scope and approach, and range from a few lines to an entire history of the still life. Featuring all new color reproductions, One Hundred Details serves as an introduction to art history and offers a unique and intimate look at these paintings through the discerning eye of a world-renowned art historian and director.

Russell T. Clement - Library Journal

This updated reissue of Clark's popular 1938 book proffers new color reproductions on quality paper and a preface by the newly installed director of the National Gallery, London, Nicholas Penny. Clark (1903-83), an influential author, broadcaster, and eminent art historian, directed the gallery from 1934 to 1945 and wrote extensively about its collections. He strategically arranges details from favorite paintings, primarily 15th- to 17th-century masterpieces, to highlight thematic and iconographic contrasts and analogies. Juxtaposed pairs of details manifest a distinct Northern Renaissance and Mediterranean axis indicative of the period. Seventy years on, Clark's engaging commentary, reprinted in captions following the plates, is refreshingly straightforward and pointed. His intent to educate an imaginary group of museum visitors is admirably and gracefully achieved without patronizing, through wit, emotion, and reflective criticism. The work holds up well, except for lacking an index, and libraries without either the original or 1990 reissue are advised to purchase.

Kenneth Clark was director of the National Gallery, London, from 1934 to 1945.