I could not make it through the first chapter of this book. I am not an English teacher, but the run-on sentences and atrocious sentence structure drove me crazy! The author tries to provide a political context for the Constellations, both paintings and poetry. However, he jumps from year to year and place to place without transition. I found this extremely confusing and also incomplete. I was also disappointed in the black and white illustrations. I don't think the paintings can be appreciated at all in this book. Don't buy it!