World of Art, The

It's like bringing an art museum into your home--along with an expert tour guide, full of illuminating information and insights. More than 500 large-size photographs of paintings, chronologically arranged, provide an enlightening journey through the movements and great names of western art. As you go from work to work, the shifts in style through the centuries, from the Gothic to the Renaissance to Neo-Classicism to modernism and beyond become quite clear and striking. Here are the highly religious medieval images; the birth of perspective and realism during the Renaissance; Mannerism, with its stylized human figures; the rich opulence of the Baroque era; and Dutch masters such as Vermeer, with his incredible detail. 19th century Romanticism inspired British landscape artists to new heights, and of course there are numerous examples of one of the most beloved styles of all time: Impressionism. It's an amazing trip from Giotto's vision of St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata to Mark Rothko's splashes of bright color.