"A book that often reads like an update of one of those late novels of Henry James
as adapted, say, by Vladimir Nabokov
in which the narrator finds all appearances to be deceptive and every revelation is calculated to raise more questions than it answers."
Hilton Kramer, Wall Street Journal "Weber explores Balthus's many influences, from the ... Read morework of Piero della Francesca to psychoanalytic theory and his brother's fascination with the Marquis de Sade... a splendid account of a complex life and as fine an artist's biography as this season is likely to produce."
Publishers Weekly "Probing the inner man and his work, the author partially explains the mystique that has surrounded this critically acclaimed and self-invented painter whose surreal, sexually charged images are both disturbing and haunting."
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