The Vexations of Art; Velazquez and Others

Now available in paperback A major art historian reflects on a great tradition of European painting. "The Vexations of Artis an engrossing, passionate attempt to re-engage with painting as a mode of thought at a time when 'it is not clear in what form the resource of paintingfor surely painting has been a singular resource of the greater European culturewill continue."Jackie Wullschlager,Financial Times "[A] fascinating book that will surely generate discussion for some time to come."Mindy Nancarrow,Renaissance Quarterly

Svetlana Alpers is professor emerita of the history of art, University of California, Berkeley, and visiting scholar in the department of fine arts, New York University. She is the author of The Making of Rubens and, with Michael Baxandall, Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence, published by Yale University Press.