Customer Reviews
Great for a winter's night - By: giraffe23, 08 Jan 2009 
I spent a week illin bed recently & driftedin & out of sleep to these DVDs, which was a bizarre, if enlightening experience.
As someone who has a limited knowledge of Art History, this was fascinating & entertaining.
Would highly recommend. Schama is an excellent narrator.
Magnificent and erudite - By: A. Friswell, 23 Sep 2008 Schama's portrayal of Rembrandt, Caravaggio & above all, Bernini, is masterly. Never dull, always pacey where necessary, his commentaries breathe even greater life into these three extraordinary artists.
If you like art & know why, or if you like art "because I know what I like" (both equally valid) this is a must-see DVD set.
excellent - By: Lowy, 22 Jan 2008 Simon Schama's DVD set "The Power of Art" is an excellent intellectual try to make the connections between the art & the human perception of the world & with it, its influence on the world history. With it he tries to cope with the very important question, what art is for, & what purposes it fulfils except of being esthetical addition to our world. According to Schama the very best examples of politically influential artists are David, Goya & Picasso. Schama successfully shows the power of artin political troubled times, while according to him Goya & Picasso standedin the morally correct side of the fence, opposite to David whose paintings were part of the murderous machinery of the French revolution.
splendidly irritating - By: Michael Scuffil, 06 Jan 2008 Schama is an irritating presenter -- "We all know the type," as he saysin an aside while unaccountably chopping carrots -- but at least we have someone discussing art without using artspeak. And being irritated is better than being sent to sleep. For those who don't like the re-enactments, I can only say that this is a TV programme, not a book. Some are less than brilliant, &in this sense he's let down somewhat by his producer, but not so badly asin the History of Britain, where there were serious anachronisms between the reconstructions & the history.
OK - but Tim Marlow's shows work better for me. - By: Steve B, 24 Aug 2007 
I really like Schama - but wonder how much I actually remember after the show. That's why I prefer Tim marlow's shows: he is a better communicator of ideas & information (as opposed to Schama's skills of importing emotion & mood). Good news that UK TV has both. Credit to BBC & Five.
