"The sharpest feature of this book is that it takes poetry, pictures, and architecture seriously by seeing these as major items of historical testimony. . . . An engaging and sensitive study."
American Historical Review
"Smuts's great strength is his grasp of the politics of the age. . . . At every point he is able to buttress ... Read morehis arguments about Charles I's 'cultural policy' by reference to Charles's social, economic, and foreign policy."
Journal of Modern History
"The book's virtues are numerous. Smuts, a historian, has read widely, pulling together much valuable information while offering intelligent insights of his own. . . . Particularly valuable is the book's emphasis on the social and factional complexity of the court and thus of the art it produced and consumed."
Sixteenth Century Journal
"Smuts's book deserves a wide readership. Provocative in the best sense of the word, it challenges the reader at every turn and offers a running commentary on possibilities for future research."
Journal of British Studies
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