Cv/VAR series 152 publishes an anthology of essays and reviews by the eminent art historian and writer, Edward Lucie-Smith. The articles cover a broad span, from the Italian Renaissance of Giotto and Antonello da Messina, Leonardo and Michelangelo, progressing to Rubens, Velazquez and Ingres, with essays on William Hogarth, John Constable and John Everett Millais for British Art. With the experience of his landmark publications on modern art, which remain in print; the author sweeps the reader on a fabulous journey of perception, disclosing the strands that bind the continuum of classic and contemporary art.

The art market today is like a Monopoly game. There is an underworld of art secrets unknown to the public and many art experts around the world. This art collection was hidden away by the famous artist Picasso and his wife Jacqueline Picasso to keep them away from the hands of his illegitimate children, who today are in charge of the authentication certificates for the artist Picasso's artwork. This art collection is unique and has never been seen by anyone in the art world. Now, in this book, I am giving you the chance to see these unseen artworks, along with some amazing oil paintings by some of the other top artists in the world. Most of our Picasso paintings have been authenticated by Picasso himself or his wife Jacqueline. Some authentication was done in the artist's Barcelona museum, opened in Spain in 1963; others were authenticated on 18 February 1980 and 20 April 1982 by Jacqueline, with the help of Jon Miro and others. This is the story of one painting that will change history and show the facts, and what is known about Picasso's artwork, to the art world. This is a one-of-a-kind art discovery that will be registered in history as one of the biggest art discoveries made by one person. It will prove that this artwork, along with more than a hundred oil paintings and other artworks, was part of the private collection of Picasso himself and his wife Jacqueline. Their discovery will change history, revealing many unknown art secrets and never-seen-before oil paintings and artworks of the 19th century by Picasso and some of his favourite artists and best friends, like Georges Braque, Joan Miro, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian, Georges Rouault, Wifredo Lam, Henri Matisse, Ambroise Vollard, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and many more. This book will also reveal the secrets behind the Musee d'Orsay labels, stamps and red wax seals. This is not just a book; it is also an art catalogue of the never-seen-before artworks by some of the top artists in the world.

By 1650, the spiritual and political power of the Catholic Church was shattered. Thanks to the twin blows of the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years War, Rome, celebrated both as the Eternal City and Caput Mundi (the head of the world) had lost its pre-eminent place in Europe. Then a new Pope, Alexander VII, fired with religious zeal, political guile and a mania for building, determined to restore the prestige of his church by making Rome the must-visit destination for Europe's intellectual, political and cultural elite. To help him do so, he enlisted the talents of Gianlorenzo Bernini, already celebrated as the most important living artist: no mean feat in the age of Rubens, Rembrandt and Velazquez. Together, Alexander VII and Bernini made the greatest artistic double act in history, inventing the concept of soft power and the bucket list destination. Bernini and Alexander's creation of Baroque Rome as a city more beautiful and grander than since the days of the Emperor Augustus continues to delight and attract.