The Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden comprises one of the most important art collections in the world. Many of the works exhibited undoubtedly belong to the milestones of European painting from the
Renaissance to the 18th century. Raphael’s Sistine Madonna, Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus and Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window are housed there, in the company of countless other famous paintings by artists that include van Eyck, Dürer, Cranach, Tizian, Poussin, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Rubens, Watteau, Bellotto, Füssli and Graff.
This volume describes the gallery’s eventful history and uses 100 masterpieces to present the immense artistic spectrum of the collection. The selected paintings are listed chronologically with commentary by
specialists, and are composed in a stimulating sequence so that the characteristics of the diverse epochs become visible beyond genre and national boundaries.