The book deals with the similarities and differences between the two collections (Kunstmuseum Basel and Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid) in five centuries of collecting and museum history.

Bodo Brinkmann was born in 1960 in Berlin. During the fall semester 2014 he was a lecturer at the University of Basel. Since June 2008 he has been curator of Old Masters at Kunstmuseum Basel. From 2007-08 he was curator of Dutch and Flemish Painting of 1800 at Städel Museum, Frankfurt. He has also lectured at the Universitys of Giessen, Heidelberg and Marburg/L. Since 1992 he has been curator of Old German and Old Dutch Paintings at the Städel, Frankfurt. He was a visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1990 to 1992 he had leadership of the photograph collection at the Kunsthistorisches Institut der FU Berlin and lectureship. In 1990 he received his Doctors degree with "summa cum laude", thesis: "Der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und sein Kreis". From 1978-1990 he studied Art History, German philology, Archaeology and Philosophy at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel and Freie Universität Berlin.