What Great Paintings Say. Faces of Power

Byzantine empresses, French revolutionaries, and Spanish generals: history’s most impressive figures stare boldly out of the canvases in this collection of formidable paintings. Each individual represented in these images radiates with strength and splendour; be they an aristocratic widow in mourning, a murdered politician, or a jovial group of Ukrainian rebels.

Authors Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen tease out the stories and secrets of 13 masterpieces by artists including Goya, Titian, Velázquez, and Ilya Repin. Regal, holy, and wise, the men and women in these works will inspire you with their conquests and resilience.TASCHEN reproduces these masterworks in stunning quality, working in collaboration with esteemed art collections all over the world, including in Brussels, St. Petersburg, New York, and Naples. Combining astute analysis with magnified painting details, this book is a unique historical investigation in tribute to the movers and shakers of the past.

About the series:

- Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre series features:
- approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions
- a detailed illustrated introduction plus a timeline of the most important political, cultural, and social events that took place during that period
- a selection of the most important works of the epoch, each presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and accompanying interpretation, as well as a portrait and brief biography of the artist