100 Details from the National Gallery

• Lovingly reworked re-issue of the landmark title by Kenneth Clark, still remembered for writing and presenting the famed BBC series, Civilisation

    • Stunning details from his favourite paintings with his trademark commentary bring the art to life

    • An enjoyable introduction to art history, and a unique way of looking at National Gallery Collection

    One Hundred Details offers Kenneth Clark's personal choice of details of paintings in the National Gallery, London, and his responses to them.

    First published in 1938, when he was director of the Gallery, Clark chose the pictures he liked best, in the hope that we would come to like them too.

    The details are arranged in pairs, enabling us to see analogies and contrasts between paintings that are rarely viewed together – a faun from Piero di Cosimo, a satyr from Rubens. The commentaries are Kenneth Clark at his best, ranging from a few lines to an entire history of still life between Giotto and Picasso.

    To download and view a selection of spreads from this publication,please click here  

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    The easy style makes no attempt to conceal the breadth of the author's erudition: world history and world culture are taken at a gallop and a smile. Clark insists that there are countless ways of enjoying paintings, provided we stop, look and think. His comments, wide in scope and broad in approach, will strike a chord with every reader, whatever their interests.

    For this new edition of One Hundred Details brand new reproductions from the National Gallery's state-of-the-art digital collection have been made.

      About the Author:
  Kenneth Clark was Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1934 to 1945, before becoming Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford and later Chairman of the Arts Council. He was made a life peer in 1969 and died in 1983.