This book is a unique encyclopedia combining the advantages of an art album and a reference book. It contains information about a thousand artists who have worked from the Early Renaissance to the present day. The publication acquaints the reader with biographies and the most characteristic aspects of the masters' work, demonstrating their most famous works. The abundance of color illustrations (the book contains more than a thousand reproductions of paintings, the originals of which are stored in major museums and private collections) makes it possible to assess their contribution to the world art process.