Editorial Reviews:
The National Gallery of Art in our nation's capital houses one of the foremost collections of European and American painting in the world, covering more than seven centuries of art-from Byzantine to contemporary-and numbering more than 3,000 works. This sumptuous volume gathers together some of the greatest art in the world, nearly 400 masterworks of the collection, from Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci to Jackson Pollock's magisterial Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) .
The model for this volume is John Walker's National Gallery of Art, Washington (1984), hailed in its time as a landmark publication. The new book features stunning reproductions and enlightening commentary by John Hand for a new selection of works, including acquisitions of the past 20 years by artists such as Cézanne, Degas, Matisse, Newman, Rothko, and Van Gogh. Shown together with the masterpieces from the Gallery's core collections-by Botticelli, Corot, Giotto, Goya, Homer, Manet, Picasso, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, Titian, Van Eyck, Vermeer, and many others-the entire group testifies to the growth and remarkable quality of the nation's art collection. AUTHOR BIO: John Oliver Hand is curator of northern Renaissance paintings at the National Gallery of Art. Earl A. Powell III is the director of the National Gallery of Art.
Customer Reviews:
 national gallery of art book
My mother was so pleased to receive this as a gift. She was impressed with the quality of the prints. She said she would get hours of enjoyment out of it.  Excellent selection of works, excellent reproductions
I purchased the earlier book by John Walker very inexpensively (used) and was disappointed to recieve it musty and in bad condition. Nevertheless I found the book enjoyable enough to throw that one away and try again with this edition at a much greater price. It was worth every penny spent on both. The selection of works displayed and the quality of the illustrations are both excellent. The only reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is that many of the illustrations are half page in size even though the entire page is devoted to them - to waste so much space instead of making the illustrations larger is sinful. Good Survey of Paintings in the National Gallery
This book presents a survey of paintings in the National Gallery, Washington DC. It more or less replaces the old volume written by the late John Walker, the former director of the institution. That book was out of date and didn't include paintings which have been acquired over the last several years. The new book brings the gallery's holdings up to date. The reproductions are very good (but not great) and the commentary is better than average. Unlike the Walker book, this book is a bit more selective and doesn't try to include the kitchen sink. My major complaint is that the book is a bit thin when it comes to the museum's superb early Italian paintings. There is also too much space devoted to what is essentially contemporary work which has not truly stood the test of time. For example, 10 pages (!) are devoted to the dull Barnett Newman. Another problem is that the book doesn't discuss the condition of the artwork. I'll wager that many of the paintings reproduced in this book which look virtually brand new are in fact heavily restored and "touched up" by the gallery's conservation department.
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(3 reviews)
