Overview
Lawrence Gowing, the most vivid writer on art to have lived in this century, selected more than 800 European masterpieces for inclusion in this, the most lavish and comprehensive volume ever published on the greatest collection of paintings in the world - the Louvre.Superbly reproduced in full color, here are all of the most important paintings in the Louvre. The works of the great French masters - which amount to over half of the collection - are well represented, with paintings by Poussi, Fragonard, David, Gericault, Delacroix, Ingres, and Corot, to name only a few. The Mona Lisa is included, together with a good selection of Leonardo da Vinci's other paintings. Many other great Italian masterpieces are reproduced - from the early gilded panels of Giotto to altarpieces by Fra Angelico, from frescoes by Botticelli to canvases by Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, and their successors. Here too are fine examples from the Flemish, Dutch, German, English, and Spanish schools, including Bosch, Durer, Vermeer, Turner, and El Greco.
"... the fullest possible single stop introduction to French painting. But there is much more from other countries ... "--Wall Street Journal
Synopsis
Lawrence Gowing, the most vivid writer on art to have lived in this century, selected more than 800 European masterpieces for inclusion in this, the most lavish and comprehensive volume ever published on the greatest collection of paintings in the world - the Louvre.
Superbly reproduced in full color, here are all of the most important paintings in the Louvre. The works of the great French masters - which amount to over half of the collection - are well represented, with paintings by Poussi, Fragonard, David, Gericault, Delacroix, Ingres, and Corot, to name only a few. The Mona Lisa is included, together with a good selection of Leonardo da Vinci's other paintings. Many other great Italian masterpieces are reproduced - from the early gilded panels of Giotto to altarpieces by Fra Angelico, from frescoes by Botticelli to canvases by Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, and their successors. Here too are fine examples from the Flemish, Dutch, German, English, and Spanish schools, including Bosch, Durer, Vermeer, Turner, and El Greco.
Library Journal
Though many cities boast impressive art collections, Paris's Louvre is the art museum, and this 1987 title gathers more than 800 of its most famous items spanning 500 years of European art. LJ's reviewer found Gowing's text slightly prejudiced (LJ 1/88), but the hundreds of illustrations are simply stunning. As its original incarnation sold for $85, even at $50 this is a good buy.