This book presents a gallery of great art aiming to cover every type of expression made by man in paint--from early Egyptian and Cretan wall art, Greek vases, Etruscan friezes and Pompeian murals through the entire panorama of world painting, up to and including the abstract and non-objective movements of the twentieth-century. Included among the lavish color plates are gold splashed Eastern miniatures, stylized Oriental scroll paintings, Byzantine mosaics, and medieval illuminations, a complete visual review of Gothic art, the spiritually rich early Renaissance, High Renaissance portraits, French and Italian Mannerist canvases, Baroque paintings, Romantic and Naturalist painters. Also included are plates featuring the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists as well as the Fauves, Expressionists, Cubists, Surrealists, and their heirs.