SOURCE: “Driven to Greatness,” in Times Literary Supplement, November 5, 1999, pp. 3–4.

In the following review, Israel offers an unfavorable assessment of Rembrandt's Eyes.

Rembrandt's Eyes is about the artist and his world, a crucial part of Simon Schama's thesis being that Rembrandt, one of the greatest artists, was less a product of, than a rebel against, the milieu in which he lived and worked: “the isolated artist, eccentric in habits, mercurial in temper, embattled with the callow vulgarity of contemporary taste or the conventions of academic mediocrity, straining against the expectations of his patrons, was not a modern, nineteenth-century invention.” The combination of history, art history and focus on individual artistic psychology creates an intriguing mix. Schama has become a major celebrity in the world of history, art history and general cultural studies, a scholar with a splendid reputation. Rembrandt's Eyes is a lavishly produced, imposing publication.

Professor Schama's...