Skira Rizzoli</br></br>Product Description</br></br>In line with best-selling <i>The Louvre: All the Paintings</i> and Rizzoli's successful <i>The Hermitage Collections</i> and <i>The Barnes Foundation: Masterworks</i> this title offers an exquisite tour unique in its lavish illustration scholarship extent and graceful packaging. As the first large survey published in 30 years and the first large general survey of the Met's paintings collection it is the first to celebrate the greatest and most iconic paintings of one of the largest most important and most beloved museums in the world. This impressive books broad sweep of material all from a single museum makes it at once a universal history of painting and the ideal introduction to the iconic masterworks of this world-renowned institution. Lavish color illustrations and details of 500 masterpieces created over 5000 years in cultures across the globe are presented chronologically from the dawn of civilization to the present. These works represent a grand tour of painting from ancient Egypt and classical antiquity and prized Byzantine and medieval altarpieces?? to paintings from Asia?? India?? Africa?? and the Americas and the greatest European and North American masters. This unprecedented book includes an introduction and illuminating texts about each artwork written by Kathryn Calley Galitz?? whose experience as both a curator and educator at the Met makes her uniquely qualified. European and Americ