Historical overview of the Prado museum and its collections.

Sixty renowned works from one of the most impressive and significant museums of the world.

The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and is considered one the greatest museums of art in the world. The numerous works by Francisco de Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens and Hieronymus Bosch are some of the highlights of the collection. Comprehensively showcasing the permanent collection of the Prado, this magnificent book is the first of its kind to be published by the Prado Museum, covering the collection from Ancient Sculpture to the 19th century. The book is arranged chronologically by the date of the artworks featured, creating a rich dialogue between artists from different schools working in the same period. There are sections looking in depth at specific painters (Velazquez, Titian, Greco and Bosch), and at the themes of still life, portraits and religious paintings. The Prado Masterpieces can be read as a complete history of art, as illustrated by the careful selection of highlights from the Prado's Collection.

The most wonderful and clear art guide to explore and learn all the fundamentals of the greatest works, artists, schools of art and styles in the Prado Museum. Discover the Prado, one of the premier art galleries in the world. Explore and appreciate the greatest masterpieces and the artists who created them: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Botticelli, Raphael, the Venetians, Rubens, Rembrandt, Lorraine, Poussin, 19th century Spanish painting plus the best sculptural and decorative works it treasures in its collections. Learn its history and transformation from picture gallery to global treasured museum, which houses one of the very best collections of European art in the world including the most complete collection of Spanish paintings.

"Author Javier Sierra embarks on a grand tour of the Prado museum in this historical novel that illuminates the fascinating mysteries behind some of the greatest paintings in the world--complete with gorgeous, full-color inserts of artwork by Raphael, Boticelli, and other masters"--

"A survey with the contents of the gallery together with detailed critisms of its masterpieces and biographical sketches of the famous painters who produced them"--T.p.