Theodore K Rabb's contemplative book offers a new interpretation of the seventeenth century Europe, focusing on a crucial transition from turmoil to relative tranquility. The book shows, in splendid illustrations, how painters, like writers and scientists, reflected the change that is his main theme - the shift from belligerence to restraint, from upheaval to calm.
Now dated, but still perhaps the best general introduction to the "crisis of the seventeenth century." Clearly argued, compelling, and mercifully short.