In this volume, the Louvre's most treasured masterpieces are illustrated in full color, selected and described by Michel Laclotte, Chief Curator of Painting at the Louvre and one of the world's foremost experts in European art. - Jacket flap. Among the major museums of the world there are certainly others that own more complete series of this or that school, more significant masterpieces by this or that artist, but there are few that provide quite as varied a representation of European painting from Cimabue to the nineteenth century. Such diversity derives both from the history of the museum and from the manner in which its collections were established, and it distinguishes the Louvre from among the other great museums. - Introduction.