Publisher's Synopsis
In an effort to give some tangible presence to Theodore Rousseau's ideas about art and artists and to his original and penetrating understanding of the periods that produced them, the Museum has selected from his numerous writings these five essays that seem to be especially imbued with his perception and insight. Like all his work, they are much more than conventional scholarly analyses by an art historian. He loved a wide variety of objects and with singular directness wrote of them enthusiastically and with grace.
Theodore Rousseau was Vice Director and chief curator of European Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art under Director James J. Rorimer. He organized spectacular exhibitions on Van Gogh, Gauguin, tapestries, and many others. As a curator, he had a great eye, overseeing the acquisition for the Metropolitan Museum the Badminton Sarcophagus, The Cloisters' Apocalypse, the splendid Vision of Saint John by El Greco, many magnificent Tiepolo paintings, Velazquez's Juan de Pareja, Georges de la Tour's Fortune Teller,, Rembrandt's Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, and Monet's Terrace at Sainte Addresse, many of which are now considered cornerstones of the Museum's collections. [This title was originally published in 1979.]
