The Folio Society Book of the 100 Greatest Paintings

This illustrated survey presents one hundred Western paintings in chronological order, from late medieval panel painting to Picasso's Guernica of 1937. Each opening pairs a colour plate with a short commissioned essay on subject, technique, and provenance. Contributors are curators and historians writing on single works rather than whole careers. The selection allows one painting per artist and stops short of postwar art. Typical subjects include altarpieces, histories, landscapes, and modern compositions. There is no continuous narrative. The book is a gallery of argued choices with plates, not a history of painting in chapters and not a picture album without commentary.

Bound in bdark-blue buckram blocked in gilt on cover with artist names. Mid-blue endleaves. Mid-blue slipcase with a colour picture on front. Presentation volume for 2002.