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Article: THE WHOLE TRUTH
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- August 18, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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In most years the National Gallery of Scotland contributes to
the Edinburgh Festival with a reassessment of some aspect of Old
Master painting. This summer it's the turn of Diego Velzquez, whose
fame is such that we feel ourselves on quite knowledgeable terms
with his art. But that is not really so. There are some excellent
Velzquez paintings in this country but the best of them never leave
the Prado. Velzquez has been well served by scholarship. On the
other hand there hasn't been a really good book about him since
Jose Ortega y Gasset published his account of "probably one of the
coolest men in existence" in 1942. There is no English critical
tradition to speak of. Velzquez's great ...