Like great novels, the masterpieces of painting are linked to the society and the historical period in which they were created, and constitute indispensable keys to their interpretation. So turning the pages of this book, looking at the reproductions of the pictures and reading the comments on the works and the biographies of the individual artists is equivalent to exploring the great periods in Western culture, from the end of the Middle Ages to the dawn of the contemporary era. A careful selection that presents "some of the highest peaks of achievement in the painting of the European tradition," from the precious paintings on a gold ground of the Italian primitives to the subtleties of Flemish art, from the visionary qualities of German painting to the concreteness of Caravaggio and from the tragic realism of Goya to the golden age of French Impressionism.