The Renaissance Unchained

In this series critic Waldemar Januszczak challenges received historical wisdom that the Renaissance originated in Italy and Spain, claiming instead that it emerged further north in Germany and the Low Countries. With the help of several academic experts, plus endless location filming in art galleries Europeanwide, Januszczak has a fine time demolishing traditional historical views and putting his in their place (a case of "my theory can lick your theory" perhaps?

Looked at with a critical eye, his views can be readily challenged; he is too ready and willing to make sweeping generalizations about Italian, Spanish, and German art, and to take things at face value without reflecting sufficiently deeply on the ways in which they might have affected audiences. But then this is television history, not academic history, so perhaps we can forgive him a certain superficiality of tone.

What really grates, however, is the supercilious persona Januszczak cuts on screen. Carrying a variety of suitcases and entering different artistic shrines, he resembles a professor determined to prove that his view matters at the expense of anyone else's. He has this annoying tendency to SPEAK IN CAPITAL LETTERS, which seems eminently unsuitable for an intimate medium such as television.

This series might have worked as a book or even a radio show, it seems peculiarly uncomfortable for the small screen. Avoid.