About the author:

Roland Kanz is a professor of art history. He studied in Munich and then taught at the universities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Berlin. Since 2002 he has occupied a chair at the Art-Historical Institute at the University of Bonn. His books and studies are devoted to painting, sculpture, and architecture in Germany and Italy from the 16th to the 20th century.

The likeness through the ages

Beginning in the 14th century and working its way through the ages up to the current day, this book examines the portrait via the most beloved and important examples in history.

Featured artists include:

Simone Martini, Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Parmigianino, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, Francisco de Goya, Jaques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Oskar Kokoschka, Ferdinand Hodler, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Chuck Close.

About the Series:

Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre Series features:

a detailed introduction with approximately 35 photographs, plus a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, etc.) that took place during the time period

a selection of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the work and brief biography of the artist as well as additional information such as a reference work, portrait of the artist, and/or citations