Dutch painting in its prime is one of the great achievements in the history of art. Painters described their life and their environment, their country and their city sights so thoroughly that their work seems to provide a nearly complete pictorial record of Dutch culture. This book explores all the aspects of a truly creative period when sureness of instinct and quality of performance held a safe balance. The work of the great masters - including...

"In 1631, Sara de Vos is admitted as a master painter to the Guild of St. Luke's in Holland, the first woman to be so recognized. Three hundred years later, only one work attributed to de Vos is known to remain--a haunting winter scene, At the Edge of a Wood, which hangs over the bed of a wealthy descendant of the original owner. An Australian grad student, Ellie Shipley, struggling to stay afloat in New York, agrees to paint a forgery of the landscape,...