Well known for her BBC TV art series Sister Wendy Beckett's 1000 Masterpieces features over 500 of the world's best-loved artists from Michelangelo to Matisse from Piero to Picasso. Covering over nine centuries of paintings in the Western world the core of this book is organised alphabetically by artist for ease of reference. From Medieval through the Italian Renaissance to Pure Abstraction the work of each artist is treated with the same degree of attention whatever their classification of style or time of creation. Sister Wendy studies each painting in full treating subject matter materials and technique as well as isolating the key elements of each major work.