PAINTING THE WORLD.

A quote from the director of the NATIONAL GALLERY is as follows: 'Every Great painting is its own world; if we spend long enough time looking, we can enter it, and share its insights.' With this intention Neil MacGregor, the Director of the National Gallery, London, has made four films with the BBC about the Gallery's collection. In each, he begins with a particular painting and through it explores and ideas and beliefs whared by Europeans at the period in which it was made. He also discussed a supporting cast of other pictures, which reflect various aspects - philosophical, scientific and geographical - of these 'world views'. These programmes, which move from the medieval period to the industrial revolution, each have as their starting point a painting from a different century and section of the Collection. This book provides an introduction to these key paintings and information about other pictures and artists discussed in the series. Its arrangement follows the order of the programmes; quotation from them interspersed with detailed commentaries on the pictures.