Six Centuries of Painting — Themes and Context

Structure and Scope: Schools as Organizing Principle

Davies divides his history by national schools, each subdivided into chapters on major artists. The table of contents reveals a clear hierarchy: Tuscan and Venetian schools receive the most space, while German and Spanish schools are compressed into single chapters. Within each school, Davies moves chronologically, from early figures like Cimabue and Giotto to later masters such as Titian and Velázquez. The English school gets four chapters, reflecting the author's likely British readership. This structure allows Davies to compare artists across regions—for instance, he places Rembrandt above all Dutch painters, calling him 'the greatest painter that has ever lived.' Yet the school-by-school approach also limits cross-cultural analysis; Davies rarely discusses influence between schools, such as Italian impact on Flemish art.

Critical Voice: Judgment and Anecdote

Davies writes with a strong, sometimes opinionated voice. He dismisses entire groups as 'commonplace' beside Rembrandt, and he uses anecdotes to make points: the story of Rembrandt's pupils painting coins on the floor to trick him shows both the master's frugality and the era's fascination with illusion. Davies also invokes Beethoven to explain Rembrandt's limited audience—'only understandable by the really musical soul.' Such comparisons reveal his assumption that great art requires a discerning viewer. He is not shy about ranking: Rembrandt stands 'somewhere alone,' with 'no standard by which to judge his perfections and imperfections except the man himself.' This personal tone gives the book a distinctive character, though it may date its judgments.

The Role of the Public: Art as Commodity vs. Art as Expression

A recurring theme is the relationship between painters and their audiences. Davies argues that before Rembrandt, painting 'subsisted only so long as it supplied a popular demand'—a demand for 'pleasing representation of natural objects' with sentimental or historical associations. Rembrandt broke this pattern by painting 'to please himself,' leading to public neglect. Davies extends this idea to the 19th century, where he discusses 'The Spirit of Revolt' and artists like Delacroix, Manet, and Whistler who 'stood against the world.' The implication is that artistic progress often requires defiance of market forces. Yet Davies does not fully explore how patronage systems shaped earlier art; he notes that Van Eyck and Rubens worked for wealthy clients, but he does not analyze the economic pressures on, say, the Dutch Guild system.

Readers should approach Six Centuries of Painting as a personal, early-20th-century survey rather than a neutral reference. Davies's emphatic judgments—especially on Rembrandt—invite debate, and his school-by-school structure makes it easy to dip into specific periods. The book is best read alongside reproductions of the works he discusses, as his descriptions often assume visual familiarity. For those interested in the history of art criticism, Davies offers a vivid example of how one critic balanced biography, technique, and taste.

I kept thinking about how Randall Davies saw Rembrandt—someone painting for himself, quietly, away from the noise. That feeling came back when I opened Great Artists, Vol 1.: Raphael, Rubens, Murillo, and Durer — Inside the Classic. It lingers differently, more like a private conversation with each artist's own inner voice.