Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

These are the kinds of question Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen ask when faced with world-famous masterpieces. In the language of today they comment on the fashions and attitudes, trends and intrigues, love, vice and lifestyles of past times. Book jacket.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Propaganda on cloth: Artist unknown: The Bayeux Tapestry, after 1066 (p. 8)
• "A garden inclosed is my spouse" Upper Rhenish Master: The Little Garden of Paradise, c. 1410 (p. 14)
• A deceptive idyll: The Limburg Brothers: February miniature from the "Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry", c. 1416 (p. 20)
• A saint with a practical turn of mind: Fra Angelico: St Nicholas of Bari, 1437 (p. 26)
• May God help the Chancellor: Jan Eyck: The Virgin of Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, c. 1437 (p. 32)
• What is Christ doing beside Lake Geneva?: Konrad Witz: The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1444 (p. 38)
• A Christian artisan advertises his craft: Petrus Christus: St. Eligius, 1449 (p. 44)
• A family sings its own praises: Benozzo Gozzoli: Procession of the Magi, 1459 (p. 50)
• The splendours of a small dynasty: Andrea Mantegna: Ludovico Gonzaga and His Family, c. 1470 (p. 56)
• An empire collapses; the painter retreats: Hugo van der Goes: The Portinari Altar, c. 1475 (p. 62)
• Hocus-pocus, Inquisition and demons: Hieronymus Bosch: The Conjuror, after 1475 (p. 68)
• The patrons watch over the city: Master of the Transfiguration of the Virgin: The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, c. 1480 (p. 74)
• Shock treatment for the intractable: Sandro Botticelli: The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti, 1482/83 (p. 80)
• A cart trundles towards damnation: Hieronymus Bosch: The Haywain, between 1485 and 1490 (p. 86)
• Fairest daughter of heaven and waves: Sandro Botticelli: The Birth of Venus, c. 1486 (p. 92)
• The merchants of Venice: Vittore Carpaccio: Miracle of the Relic of the Cross, 1494/95 (p. 98)
• A message from the world of alchemy: Piero di Cosimo: The Death of Procris, c. 1500 (p. 104)
• Strange quartet: Hans Baldung Grien: The Three Stages of Life, with Death, c. 1510 (p. 110)
• Composure in the face of misfortune: Raphael: The Fire in the Borgo, 1514-1517 (p. 116)
• The femme fatale charms the devout viewer: Niklaus Manuel: The Execution of John the Baptist, c. 1517 (p. 122)
• The battle to end all battles: Albrecht Altdorfer: The Battle of Issues, 1529 (p. 128)
• Careers in the king's service: Hans Holbein the Younger: The Ambassadors, 1533 (p. 134)
• From the canopy of Heaven to a four-poster bed: Titian: Venus of Urbino, c. 1538 (p. 140)
• The utopia of common huntsmanship: Lucas Cranach the Younger: The Stag Hunt, 1544 (p. 146)
• The Lord sits at the table of lords: Paolo Caliari (Veronese): The Marriage at Cana, 1562/63 (p. 152)
• The Antwerp building boom: Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Tower of Babel, 1563 (p. 158)
• Apostle wanted: Tintoretto: The Abduction of the Body of St Mark, 1562-1566 (p. 164)
• For Tiber, read Seine: Antoine Caron: The Massacre by the Triumvirate, 1566 (p. 170)
• The barn is full - time for a wedding!: Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Peasant Wedding Feast, c. 1567 (p. 176)
• Faith in the magic festivals: Antoine Caron: Caesar Augustus and the Tiburtine Sybil, c. 1580 (p. 182)
• Aspirations to immortality: Jacopo Tintoretto: The Origin of the Milky Way, c. 1580 (p. 188)
• Two saints bury the munificent donor: El Greco: The Burial of Count Orgaz, 1586 (p. 194)
• A woman thwarts Spain's pride: George Gower: Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I, c. 1590 (p. 200)
• The princess in the hospital: Adam Elsheimer: St Elizabeth Tending the Sick, c. 1597 (p. 206)
• Tyrannicide by tender hand: Caravaggio: Judith and Holofernes, c. 1599 (p. 212)
• The theatre of cruelty: Caravaggio: Martyrdom of St Matthew, 1599/1600 (p. 218)
• Double-dealing hands and eyes: Georges de La Tour: The Fortune Teller, after 1630 (p. 224)
• Grateful for the gift of sensuous pleasure: Peter Paul Rubens: The Love Garden, c. 1632-1634 (p. 230)
• The victor honours a defeated enemy: Diego Velazquez: The Surrender of Breda, 1635 (p. 236)
• The writing on the wall: Rembrandt: Belshazzar's Feast, c. 1635 (p. 242)
• Tho' our wealthy days be done, here's to a life of luxury: Jacob Jordaens: The King Drinks, 1640-1645 (p. 248)
• A nude for the king: Diego Velazquez: Venus at her Mirror, c. 1646 (p. 254)
• The Governor's catalogue: David Teniers the Younger: Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's Galleries at Brussels, c. 1650 (p. 260)
• An Old Testament family portrait: Rembrandt: Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, 1656 (p. 266)
• A Careerist bathes in the Sun King's radiance: Charles Le Brun: The Chancellor Seguier, after 1660 (p. 272)
• Life: a drawing-room comedy: Antoine Watteau: Love at the French Theatre, 1716-1721 (p. 278)
• Cultivated leisure, music and champagne: Antoine Watteau: The Music-Party, c. 1718 (p. 284)
• The fine art of extravagance: Giambattista Tiepolo: The Banquet of Cleopatra, 1746-1750 (p. 290)
• The proper combination of activity and leisure: Thomas Gainsborough: Mr and Mrs Andrews, 1749 (p. 296)
• Every convent had its salon: Francesco Guardi: The Parlour of San Zaccaria, 1750 (p. 302)
• Tennis with Apollo: Giambattista Tiepolo: The Death of Hyacinthus, 1752/53 (p. 308)
• Politics as a dirty business: William Hogarth: An Election Entertainment, 1754/55 (p. 314)
• What's in a square: Bernardo Bellotto: The Freyung, Vienna, from the Southeast, 1759/60 (p. 320)
• A star-machine explains the universe: Joseph Wright of Derby: A Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery, 1764-1766 (p. 326)
• The marriage of Venice with the sea: Francesco Guardi: The Departure of the Doge on Ascension Day, c. 1770 (p. 332)
• A German icon: Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein: Goethe in the Roman Campagna, 1786/87 (p. 338)
• The holy revolutionary: Jacques-Louis David: The Death of Marat, 1793 (p. 344)
• The black widow, beautiful and deadly: Francisco de Goya: The Duchess of Alba, 1797 (p. 350)
• Grand entrance in the cathedral: Jacques-Louis David: The Coronation of Napoleon, 1807 (p. 356)
• A martyr's death at dawn: Francisco de Goya: The Third of May 1808, in Madrid, the Execution on Principe Pio Hill, 1814 (p. 362)
• A view to infinity: Caspar David Friedrich: Chalk Cliffs on Rugen, c. 1818 (p. 368)
• Dramatic struggle for survival: Theodore Gericault: The Raft of the Medusa, 1819 (p. 374)
• A Romantic's Asiatic tour de force: Eugene Delacroix: The Death of Sardanapalus, c. 1827 (p. 380)
• Across the river and into the past: Ludwig Richter: The Schreckenstein Crossing, 1837 (p. 386)
• The German painting best-loved by Germans: Carl Spitzweg: The Poor Poet, 1839 (p. 392)
• The greatest amateur musician of the nation: Adolph Menzel: The Flute Concert of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci, 1850-1852 (p. 398)
• A studio opens its doors to the world: Gustave Courbet: The Studio, 1855 (p. 404)
• A fragrance of women and the Orient: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: The Turkish Bath, 1863 (p. 410)
• The wrong uniform exposes the true culprit: Edouard Manet: The Execution of Maximilian, 1868 (p. 416)
• A look behind the scenes: Edgar Degas: The Rehearsal on the Stage, 1873 (p. 422)
• Keeping in the time with machines: Adolph Menzel: Steel Mill, 1875 (p. 428)
• Laughing struggle for freedom: Ilya Repin: Zaporogian Cossacks Composing a Letter to the Turkish Sutan, 1880-1891 (p. 434)
• Venue for gentry, bourgeoisie and boheme: Pierre Auguste Renoir: The Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881 (p. 440)
• Declaration of love for the capital of the world: Edouard Manet: A Bar at the Folies Bergere, 1881 (p. 446)
• In the paradise of the petite bourgeoisie, all are strangers: Georges Seurat: Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-1886 (p. 452)
• An inflammatory protest against dictatorship: Vassily Surikov: The Boyarina Morozova, 1887 (p. 458)
• Jesus Christ, the lonely contemporary: James Ensor: Christ's Entry into Brussels, 1888 (p. 464)
• Not long until it bursts apart: Otto Dix: Metropolis (Triptych), 1928 (p. 470)
• The Vitebsk Man of Sorrows: Marc Chagall: White Crucifixion, 1938 (p. 476)
• 400 years at a glance: Diego Rivera: Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alamedea Park, 1948 (p. 482)
• Appendix (p. 488)