A personal view by Kenneth Clark
"All the greatest exponents of civilisation, from Dante to Goethe, have been obsessed by light - perhaps one could take it as the supreme symbol of civilisation. But in the 17th century, the invention of the lens was giving light a new range and power."
The telescope and the microscope revealed new worlds in space and in a drop of water; and the realism of Dutch painting carried a stage further the observation of human character. Kenneth Clark's story takes him from the Holland of Rembrandt and Vermeer to the London of Wren, Purcell and the Royal Society.
"When I say that I find Kenneth Clark's 'Civilisation' entertaining, and so does my wife and my children's nannie and a 16-year-old American girl who happens to be visiting us, why am I suspect!" (Evening Standard)