The purpose of this book is not to draw up the inventory of the rich holdings of American museums. Nor does it intend to tell the history of these museums and their directors, nor the one, extensive as well, of American collecting, from Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Jefferson Bryan to Dominique de Ménil and Jayne Wrightsman, not to mention the names Mellon, Rockefeller, Frick, Kress, and so many legendary ones. So why this book? It groups one hundred paintings (actually ninety-eight and two pastels) of every European school from the fifteenth century to 1912, unmatched in European collections.
Calling upon recollection of his travels, books, and museum and exhibition catalogs and after lengthy discussion with many museum curators and art historians, American and European, Pierre Rosenberg chose only one work per artist, not ecessarily his or hers “absolute masterpiece,” but a work that is unique and enriches the idea we have of that artist.
Over and above a selection that can be challenged this book would like to be a source of reflection for all those whom the air of museums intoxicates, those, above all, who believe and have always believed and believe more than ever in the twofold educational and contemplative vocation of this admirable institution.
