Bosch, Bernini and Holbein
BERNINI. By R. Wittkower. (Phaidon Press, 50s.)
ALL sorts of explanations, from madness to some form of heretical belief, have been put forward to account for the nature of the majority of Bosch's compositions. Nearly all of them are strange, and the Garden of Delights is perhaps the strangest. It is, however, also the largest of his works and one of the most fascinating, and though the colour plates of this book are not all absolutely first-class, they serve nevertheless to give a good idea of the strange and alluring quality of the painting. The text consists in the main of summaries of the theories of those who have written about Bosch, from the fifteenth century till the present day. This presentation is perfectly satisfactory, even if none of the most recent theories is wholly convincing. Bosch remains an enigma in spite of them, and it is perhaps part of the charm of this, his most important picture, that we are left in suspense as to exactly what it all means.
There is nothing whatever enigmatic about Bernini's work. Here none of the obscure imaginings and mediaeval fantasies of Bosch's world is there to puzzle us; Bernini's art was a product of the age of reason and is thoroughly straightforward and prac- tical. Those who have visited Rome probably know him best as an architect, then as a decorator, and only lastly as a sculptor. Professor Wittkower's book is, however, concerned primarily with his work as a sculptor pure and simple. It is not quite so easy to enjoy his sculpture as the two other sides of his art, and how- ever much the colonnades of St. Peter's or the fountains of the Piazza Navona enchant one, a good deal of the pure sculpture, like the St. Longinus in St. Peter's (Plate 37), tends to seem somewhat over-emotional or too florid. Was Bernini a great sculptor? Professor Wittkower certainly believes that he was, but others will be more tempted to regard him rather as a great decorator and designer. This new Phaidon is sound, scholarly, exhaustive and well documented; it is enriched with admirable plates and comprises a full catalogue of Bernini's work in sculp- ture; it is also readable. It is an important addition to this admirable series.
The third book under review is on a more modest scale than
the others, but in its own way is none the less satisfactory, and, of the three, perhaps contains the most material that is generally Unfamiliar. The name of Holbein means to most people those admirable portraits of Henry VIII's time which we know from the oils in numerous galleries and private collections, and from the drawings at Windsor. Though a few of the portrait drawings are included, this little book is more concerned with the less familiar aspects of his work, like the designs for such things as goblets (Plate 53), as well as with the drawings of his father, Hans Holbein the Elder, and his brother, Ambrosius. It tells its story briefly, but with intensity and authority, and its sixty plates are Well chosen and excellently produced.
D. TALBOT RICE
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