Description
Book SynopsisA superbly written and tightly argued appraisal of the political and religious ramifications of one of the fundamental topics in the history of art the artistic encounter with the transcendent.
Trade Review'Utopian modernism has been Clark’s lifetime study, to which this book is an imaginative, heartfelt coda … gracefully skims a tightrope between attentive looking and political thinking' - Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times
'A tour de force that happily marries art with literature … [Clark] is always lively and engaging … this is art criticism at its best' - Church Times
'A more novel and compelling book about art's version of the afterlife, and how it is inflected by worldly politics and reality, can hardly be imagined' - Laura Cumming, Observer Books of the Year
'The pleasure of this book lies in the quality of these observations – Clark’s relentlessly keen attention to the small details that ought not to mean a great deal but often send you reeling. He makes you want to squint close to the original, seeing it suddenly aslant' - frieze
'Inspiring … it demands to be read from cover to cover, and happily the flow of [Clark’s] prose and the clarity of his argument mean that the experience is a singular delight' - Evening Standard, Art Books of the Year
Table of ContentsPreface • Introduction • 1. Giotto and the Angel • 2. Bruegel in Paradise • 3. Poussin and the Unbeliever • 4. Veronese’s Higher Beings • Conclusion: Picasso and the Fall • Coda: For a Left with No Future
