The Painted World takes the outstanding collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum as the starting point for an all inclusive survey of painting from the Middle Ages to the present day, encompassing painted furniture, textiles and ceramics as well as traditional oil on canvas. The history of painting is often reduced to the story of a tiny elite of easel pictures, composed exclusively of old masters and avant-garde works. Many British paintings, watercolours, miniatures, icons and non-European works relate uneasily to this twin canon of old and modern masters. This richly illustrated account seeks to redress the balance by exploring the wider history of painting, and includes a broad range of painted works, from stained glass to items of costume, in addition to numerous oil paintings and watercolours.