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Review
Rembrandt's masterful Bathsheba Reading King David's Letter is unusual both as a history painting and as a portrayal of a nude. Instead of displaying a sumptuous body for the viewer's delectation, Bathsheba elicits empathy. This collection with articles from six leading Rembrandt scholars discusses the painting from perspectives ranging from changing perceptions of female beauty and the nude, through technical analysis, to biographical, and psychological analysis of the artist, the subject, and the viewer. Contributions include: "Introduction: Perspectives on Rembrandt and His Works," Ann Jensen Adams; "Rembrandt's Bathsheba: The Object and Its Transformations," Ernst Van De Wetering; "Rembrandt's Bathsheba and the Conventions of a Seductive Theme," Eric Jan Sluijter; "An Incomparable Bathsheba," Leo Steinberg; "Reading Bathsheba: From Mastercode to Misfits," Mieke Bal; "Not Bathsheba: 'I. The Painter and the Model,' Svetlana Alpers; II. 'Uriah's Gaze,'" Margaret D. Carroll; "'Though Deficient in Beauty': A Documentary History and Interpretation of Rembrandt's 1654 Painting of Bathsheba," Gary Schwartz.
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