This handsomely designed and illustrated book presents thirty-six masterpieces from the National Gallery's remarkable and unparalleled collection, introducing major artists through their most renowned works. Each of the featured paintingswhich together outline the main innovations in art historyis discussed in fascinating detail. Among those included are Van Eyck'sPortrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife,Piero della Francesca'sThe Baptism of Christ,Botticelli'sVenus and Mars, Leonardo da Vinci'sThe Virgin of the Rocks, Durer'sSaint Jerome, Michelangelo'sThe Entombment,Titian'sBacchus and Ariadne,Bronzino'sAn Allegory with Venus and Cupid,Caravaggio'sThe Supper at Emmaus,Rembrandt'sBelshazzar's Feast,Poussin'sA Bacchanalian Revel before a Term of Pan,Velazquez's'The Rokeby Venus', Vermeer'sA Young Woman Standing at a Virginal, Turner'sThe Fighting Temeraire,Ingres'Madame Moitessier,Monet'sBathers at La Grenouillere,Degas'Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando,Cezanne'sSelf Portrait,Seurat'sBathers at Asnieres,and Van Gogh'sSunflowers.