Donna and Howard Stone, two of Chicago's premier art patrons, have collected works of art in all media for more than 30 years, building one of the most distinguished private collections of contemporary art in the country. Much of what they have acqui...

How do experts spot masterpieces? Paintings are not always signed or noted in historical records, so how can we tell an obscure gem from an altered image? Scientists, conservators and art historians use a range of methods to examine the physical natu...

Formerly part of the popular "Pocket Guides" series, "Allegory" is published in a new edition as "A Closer Look", with a wealth of beautiful reproductions. This informative guide helps readers understand the language of allegory within Western painti...

Formerly part of the popular "Pocket Guides" series, "Angels" is published in a new edition as "A Closer Look", with a wealth of beautiful reproductions. This informative guide helps readers identify angels and their significance in a painting – be i...

Christen Kobke (1819-1848) was arguably the greatest painter of Denmark's "Golden Age", the period of the nation's supreme artistic achievement. He had the remarkable ability to invest the simplest corner of town or countryside with charm and delicac...

Drawing on the National Gallery's comprehensive collection of religious images, "A Closer Look: Saints" explains the importance of saints and their role in the history of European painting. Erika Langmuir underlines the fundamental importance of sai...

Faces are everywhere in the National Gallery's collection: in portraits and narrative scenes, in allegories and paintings of everyday life. It is often the faces shown that communicate most directly in a picture; their expressions may reveal the dram...

This title presents a superbly illustrated and discerning exploration of the history, heritage, and future of California's Missions. Combining an engaging narrative with historical paintings, archival photographs, and recent full-colour photography,...

This title presents an informative and thoroughly illustrated introduction to the tradition of French landscape painting. Filled with glorious full-colour illustrations, "Capturing Nature's Beauty" highlights the key moments of the French landscape t...

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) is one of the great geniuses in the history of art, and his work has influenced a multitude of artists throughout Europe. Across the Atlantic, Cezanne's paintings had a similarly catalytic effect on artists emerging in the Un...