"Homan Potterton here gives a birds's-eye view of one of the richest collections of paintings in the world. Others may excel in particular schools, but the National Gallery of London is unique in it's coverage of the whole of European painting, from International Gothic to Post-Impressionism. The illustrations of which 75 are in color, include works by great masters of all periods: Botticelli and Leonardo, Michelangelo and Titian, El Grecco and Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer, Watteau and Gainsborough, Constable and Turner, Degas, Cézanne and (one of the gallery's latest acquisitions) Klimt. A novel feature is the inclusion of comparative illustrations showing such things as related works, preliminary drawings and x-ray photographs, in order to explain a paintings evolution. The introduction is divided into two parts. The first tells the story of the growth of the collection. The second is a description of the physical components of a painting ( wood, canvas, paint, varnish) and the technique of cleaning, restoring and conserving an item. The book ends with a complete list of all the National Gallery's 2,044 pictures, forming an invaluable reference catalogue."--Cover page 4.