A guide to more than 400 of the Gallery's masterworks, with lavish reproductions and insightful commentaries. The National Gallery of Art is home to the nation's art collection and a preeminent showcase for the development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present. This completely new handbook is compact and easy-to-handle and includes works selected by the Gallery's curatorial staff from some 145,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, decorative arts, and new media that make up the present collection. Various mediums appear side by side in chronological groupings, a schema that emphasizes the diversity and wealth of the Gallery's holdings and provides readers with a well-rounded picture of the Western world's artistic production over time. Periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century are characterized in six section introductions, with beautiful design treatment and selection of details throughout. This handsome guidebook is available in English, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish editions.