Sir Thomas Lawrence

出版者:Yale Univ Pr

作者:Levey, Michael

页数:256

出版时间:2006-2

价格:$ 84.75

装帧:HRD

isbn号码:9780300109986

具体描述

Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769 - 1830) was the most gifted and successful British portrait painter in the generation following Gainsborough and Reynolds, and his pre-eminence was publicly confirmed when he was elected President of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1820. Although he rose to fame when George III still actively ruled, he will always be associated with the Regency and the extensive, enlightened patronage he received form the Prince Regent, later George IV. Yet partly because of that association with a period and a monarch generally derided, and partly because of its bravura style, Lawrence's work has often been dismissed as flashy and meretricious. This becautifully illustrated, eloquently written and comprehensive account reverses that view, demonstrating that Lawrence was an intelligent, hard-working and profoundly conscientious artist. This book is the first sustained study of the work of Lawrence to be published for many years, and the first ever to pay proper attention to his highly accomplished drawings as well as to his paintings. Tracing the steps in his career, Michael Levey analyses and illustrates the finest of Lawrence's achievements, making pertinent comparisons with the work of his British contemporaries and also with that of major foreign artists like Goya and Ingres. Admired from early childhood onwards for his instinctive ability to seize a likeness, Lawrence vividly recreated most of the leading personalities of his day, not only in England but in post-Napoleonic Europe, culminating in his masterly full-length portrait of Pope Pius VII. Yet some of his most attractive studies - painted or drawn - are of unimportant people, of friends and of children. Several striking works reproduced here have remained in private hands and will be largely unfamiliar. Utilising unpublished as well as published sources, focusing detailed attention upon individual works, and always urging the pleasure to be gained from Lawrence's virtuoso handling of paint and of chalk, this book constitutes an impressive, in-depth argument for serious reconsideration of him as an artist.

用户评价

这本书的结构安排显示出作者极强的逻辑思维能力。它并非简单地按时间顺序铺陈，而是根据创作主题、社会角色变化（例如从宫廷画师到被授予荣誉的社会名流）等维度进行分段论述，这种主题式的划分，使得读者能够对艺术家在不同人生阶段的艺术追求和心态变化有一个清晰的脉络把握。书中对于艺术赞助体系中微妙的政治博弈的描述，更是精彩绝伦，揭示了艺术品如何成为权力游戏中的筹码。作者对当时法律条文和遗产处理细节的梳理，虽然看似枝微末节，实则为理解艺术家晚年的一些决策提供了关键的背景支撑。总而言之，这是一部罕见的、能够将学术的严谨性、历史的厚重感与文学的感染力完美融合的作品。它提供的视角是多维的、深刻的，读罢让人意犹未尽，并立刻想回头重温那些画作的细节，以印证书中所述的精妙之处。

这本传记简直是艺术史爱好者的一场盛宴！作者对于十七世纪末十八世纪初英国画坛的描摹细致入微，仿佛带我亲临了那个时代伦敦的沙龙和贵族府邸。书中对当时社交礼仪、艺术赞助人制度的深入剖析，让我对那个时期的肖像画创作环境有了全新的认识。叙事流畅自然，文笔典雅却不失生动，尤其在描述那些色彩斑斓的丝绸、天鹅绒以及人物眼神中流露出的微妙情感时，简直达到了令人拍案叫绝的境地。我尤其欣赏作者对不同艺术流派之间相互影响的观察，那些微妙的拉扯与借鉴，使得整个艺术生态图景跃然纸上。阅读过程中，我能清晰地感受到作者对该领域深厚的学术功底，但行文却丝毫没有学究气，反而充满了对那个黄金时代艺术家的热情与敬意。对于任何想深入了解英格兰肖像画黄金时代的读者来说，这本书都是一本不可或缺的指南，它不仅仅是关于一个人的故事，更是一部那个时代社会风貌和审美变迁的缩影。

坦白讲，我一开始有些担心这是一本过于注重学院派考据的书籍，但事实证明我的顾虑是多余的。作者的文字功底令人惊叹，他似乎拥有将枯燥的档案资料转化为引人入胜故事的魔力。书中关于私人信件和未公开手稿的引用，使得人物形象立刻变得鲜活起来，那些被历史烟尘掩盖的真实情绪、犹豫与挣扎，都被重新唤醒了。我尤其喜欢作者在描述人物的个性特征时所采用的类比手法，那种精准而又充满画面感的描述，让我仿佛能听到那位艺术家在画室里与模特交谈的声音。这种叙事技巧的运用，大大降低了阅读的门槛，让普通读者也能平等地走进这位艺术巨匠的内心世界。它展现的不仅仅是职业上的辉煌，更有作为一个“人”所经历的酸甜苦辣，这种平衡感使得整本书的厚度与深度都得到了极佳的体现。

我不得不说，这本书的叙事节奏掌握得相当高明，虽然是关于一位历史人物的传记，但它读起来完全没有传统传记那种冗长乏味的感觉。作者巧妙地将个人命运的跌宕起伏与宏大的历史背景编织在一起，使得每一个章节都充满了张力。特别是描述那位艺术家如何从默默无闻的新星，一步步攀上权力与声望的顶峰时，那种步步为营、审时度势的智慧，读来令人拍案叫绝。书中对于“名声”这个概念在十八世纪的社会意义的探讨，尤为深刻。它不仅仅是艺术技巧的展示，更是一种社会资本的积累。作者没有简单地赞美或批判，而是用一种近乎冷静的笔触，解剖了成功背后的复杂动机与代价。我喜欢这种克制却又充满洞察力的写作方式，它允许读者自己去思考和判断，而不是被单一的观点所裹挟。读完后，我感觉自己不仅了解了一位艺术家，更像是上了一堂生动的社会心理学课程。

这本书的装帧设计本身就是一种艺术品，厚重的纸张和精致的排版，拿在手里就有一种沉甸甸的历史感。内容上，作者对专业术语的运用把握得恰到好处，既能满足专业人士对细节的追求，也不会让非专业读者感到晦涩难懂。我特别关注了其中关于“光线处理”的章节，作者对不同光照条件下如何塑造人物性格进行了极其详尽的分析，对比了数位艺术家的处理手法，这种细致入微的比较分析，极大地提升了我的视觉鉴赏能力。更难得的是，作者并未将这位艺术家孤立地看待，而是将其置于欧洲大陆艺术思潮的交流网络中去考察，揭示了那些不为人知的国际影响。通过这些论述，我意识到艺术史的研究是多么的立体和多维，它绝不是孤芳自赏，而是全球视野下的一次次对话与碰撞。这本书的价值，就在于它为我们提供了一个观察历史的全新、且经过严谨考证的透镜。