Every year, millions of art lovers visit The Royal Collection which consists of over a million objects including 7,000 paintings, 150,000 works on paper, and 30,000 watercolours and drawings. This stunning, erudite volume showcases in particular the collection s masterpiece paintings including works by Bellini, Mantegna, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Durer, Cranach, Holbein, Rubens, Rembrandt, van Dyke, Vermeer, Hogarth, Gainsborough, and many others. From still life paintings to landscapes to portraits, some of the world s finest paintings are reproduced in exacting detail. This remarkable volume traces the evolution of this unparalleled collection and reads like a veritable history of western art. Begun almost by accident, it was one of the last of the great European royal art collections to be formed, and one of the largest to have survived intact into the twenty-first century. Also included in this special survey is a smattering of treasures from its vast collection of drawings and watercolours. The Royal Collection is spread over 13 locations all historic royal residences. Members of the Royal Family reside in most of these, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Sandringham House, and Kensington Palace, while others the Queen s Gallery and Hampton Court Palace have become spaces devoted to the public display of art. The story of the Royal Collection is a visual record of the tastes and obsessions of Britain s kings and queens over the past 500 years, and this revealing insight into the history of the British monarchy will surely be of interest to Anglophiles everywhere.

About the Author
Anna Poznanskaya is a curator and deputy head of the Department of 19th and 20th Century European and American Arts at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts as well as Associate Professor of the Department of Art History at the Russian State Humanitarian University in Moscow. Tim Knox is currently the Director of The Royal Collection. An eminent architectural historian and curator of country houses, he was previously Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University, Director of Sir John Soane's Museum, and Head Curator at the National Trust. A graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art, he spent his early career at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Reviews
"Even at 500 pages, the new illustrated book "The Queen's Pictures" (Rizzoli Electa) can cover only a fraction of the million-plus artworks in Britain's Royal Collection. (The book kept its planned title after the death of Elizabeth II last September.) "The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew" (circa 1602-4). . .has a Cinderella story. Acquired in the 17th century, it was long thought to be a copy of a lost original by Caravaggio. In 2006, scholars determined that it was the original, transforming it into a star of the collection." -WALL STREET JOURNAL



Book Information
ISBN 9780847870837
Author Anna Poznanskaya
Format Hardback
Page Count 464
Imprint Rizzoli International Publications
Publisher Rizzoli International Publications