Paint a vulgar picture

Whenever people ask me what sort of art I like, I sheepishly answer Impressionism or Renaissance Italian. Many see this as the equivalent of saying you like the Beatles when people ask about music. They are thinking, of course you like impressionism jackass, or perhaps, what a bourgeois fool. All those who dig Impressionism will be interested in Ross King's new book, The judgment of Paris, which seeks to explain what led to the rise of the movement. King has written a few other books on Renaissance art as well. Powells has a short Q&A with King in which he name checks Michael Frayn and his excellent Headlong, itself an amusing look at the art world.

See? I'm not a total Philistine.