Coinciding with the rise of the Habsburg dynasty and theexpansion of the Spanish Empire, the Spanish Golden Age createda fertile environment for cultural and scientific discovery. Someof the country’s greatest music, literature, and architecturewas created in the period between the mid-sixteenth andseventeenth centuries—and painting was no exception. Rich in illustrations and fascinating texts, this overview takesa thematic and chronological approach to the era and its laterinfluences. Opening with Spain’s emergence as a Europeanpower, it explores how developments such as the constructionof El Escorial ushered in a new era for painting; how the cities ofMadrid, Toledo, and Seville developed as centers of intellectual,political, and artistic activity; and how the Baroque period gaveway to the Rococo after the collapse of the Habsburg empire. Every major painter of the period is included here, with 250gloriously reproduced works by El Greco, Ribera, Velázquez,Zurbarán, Murillo, Ribalta, Goya, and dozens more. A finalchapter reveals how Spanish painters of the twentieth century,such as Picasso and Dalí, were shaped by their Golden Ageforebears.