ISBN 978 1 902163 29 1

Please note, due to the publication date this catalogue may contain outdated terminology. Updated object records can be viewed on Collection Online.

This landmark publication celebrates one of the most exciting periods in European art bringing together 93 paintings and 90 drawings from the Royal Collection.

The earliest paintings in the book date from the beginning of the sixteenth century and include Giovanni Bellini’s 'Portrait of a Young Man', Lorenzo Costa’s 'Portrait of a Lady with a Lapdog', and the 'Portrait of a Man', which has previously been attributed to Raphael.

From the end of the seventeenth century is the series of twelve paintings on copper by Luca Giordano, illustrating the story of Cupid and Psyche. In between are works by Andrea del Sarto, Bronzino, Caravaggio, Correggio, Titian, Giulio Romano, Jacopo Bassano, Lorenzo Lotto, Palma Vecchio, Veronese, Parmigianino, Tintoretto, Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, Domenico Fetti, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Guido Reni, and Guercino; ranging in scale fromsmall devotional paintings to large altarpieces, and fromreligious narratives to mythological subjects and portraiture.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries also saw some of the richest and most exciting developments in Italian drawing, and this book includes some of the finest drawings by many of the greatest artists of the period – from the achievements of the High Renaissance (including works by Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Andrea del Sarto and Parmigianino), through the later Renaissance in northern Italy (Veronese, Tintoretto, the Carracci), to the Baroque in Rome (Domenichino, Bernini, Maratti), Bologna (Reni, Guercino) and beyond. Several of the drawings are published under new attributions, and all the entries reflect recent developments in this field.

Scholarly thinking on a number of the paintings is also reassessed and fresh insights are drawn from the latest research, and from recent cleaning and conservation, which has transformed critical opinion on a number of the paintings, in particular 'The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew', a painting that is now firmly attributed to Caravaggio himself, rather than a follower.

There are also further fascinating works by artists rarely encountered in British collections, such as Polidoro da Caravaggio, Francesco Salviati, Federico Zuccaro, Cristofano Allori and Guido Cagnacci.

Martin Clayton is Head of the Print Room, Royal Collection Trust. 

Lucy Whitaker is Senior Curator of Paintings, Royal Collection Trust.