The Vatican Museums comprise three bodies that were once distinct but are now linked so that the visitor may tour them without interruption: the Vatican Museum proper, of which the Picture Gallery in an annex; the exhibition rooms of the Vatican Library; and the sections of the Vatican Palace that are open to the public, including the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Stanze, and the Borgia Apartments.

This volume presents these bodies in a unified way, so that the complementary descriptions and color illustrations of the works selected are arranged in chronological order. Particular attention has been given to the painters who worked under Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, and Clement VIII, that is, during the most splendid years of the High Renaissance in Italy.

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The resultant artistic overview is comprehensive, spanning the entire history of painting from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. Presented here are a great number of world-famous masterpieces, including Giotto's Stefaneschi Altarpiece, Giovanni Bellini's Lamentation over the Dead Christ, Raphael's Transfiguration, Leonardo da Vinci's Saint Jerome, Caravaggio's Deposition, Nicolas Poussin's Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus, and a highly important group of paintings by Titian, Guercino, and Guido Reni.

To these are added many works that have long been in storage in the "secret" rooms of the Pontifical Apartments, for a unique representation of one of the greatest and most precious painting collections in the world.