Donatello brought the sculpted body back to life after its long Medieval slumber. Whereas earlier sculptors, prompted by Christian prudery, had drained the body of its vigor, cloaked its nakedness, and stripped it of individuality, Donatello revealed the body as a singular organic unity. He observed
In 1921 a French critic posed a priceless question:
"By what witchcraft did [Vermeer], representing the most
daily and commonplace sights, manage to give the
viewer so mysterious, so grand, so exceptional an
emotion?" Vermeer produced only 36 paintings before he died at 43. Yet each piece blissfully
Every now and then there comes along a person with "a sensibility higher than our own who can depict an apple to stand for both that particular apple and all apples" -- at least that's how one expert put it.
The applemaster referred to was Paul Cezanne, one of the most famous of the French Impres