The National Gallery Companion Guide (PB)

Also available in French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese

The Companion Guide introduces art lovers to one of the richest and most representative collections of Western European paintings in the world, including famous works by the greatest painters - Piero della Francesca, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez, Ingres, Degas and many others - and masterpieces by less familiar artists.

Through her commentaries on 200 of the National Gallery's finest works of art, Erika Langmuir enables the visitor and reader to trace the history of European painting from the thirteenth to the twentieth century, to develop an eye for style, technique, imagery and genre, and to appreciate the talents of individual artists producing paintings for different locations and patrons, in a variety of artistic and cultural contexts.

Reviews

'... the finest book of its kind, however different in scope and intent, since Gombrich's The Story of Art', Bryan Robertson, The Guardian.

'... one of the best guides to a collection I have seen ... deserves a place in all good art sections', The Bookseller.  

Author

Erika Langmuir (1931-2015), OBE, was educated in France and the United States. She taught at the University of Sussex and held the Chair of Art History at the Open University. She was Head of Education at the National Gallery (1988-1995). Erika also wrote several titles in A Closer Look series Allegory, Angels, Saints and Still Life.