SAN DIEGO, CA.- The San Diego Museum of Art announces the debut of the new scholarly catalogue, Italian, Spanish, and French Paintings Before 1850 in The San Diego Museum of Art, highlighting the significance of the European works before 1850 in the Museum’s permanent collection. The catalogue was authored by John Marciari, Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Morgan Library & Museum and former curator of European art and head of provenance research at The San Diego Museum of Art from 2008 to 2013.

The catalogue includes comprehensive entries featuring technical analysis, provenance, and new research on approximately 70 works, including paintings by Giotto, Fra Angelico, Giorgione, Veronese, Vouet, and Ingres, along with two important works by El Greco, four by Zurbarán, Juan Sánchez Cotán’s iconic still-life Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber, and one of the finest works by Goya in an American collection, Vincente Maria de Vera de Aragon, Duque de la Roca. The catalogue also includes an introductory chapter on the formation of the collection and features entries on the Museum’s two most recent Spanish Baroque acquisitions, Valdés Leal’s Visitation and Zurbarán’s St. Francis, written by Michael A. Brown, the Museum’s Associate Curator of European Art.

“The heart of every great art museum is its collection,” said Roxana Velasquez, Maruja Baldwin Executive Director of The San Diego Museum of Art. “Six years in the making, this comprehensive scholarly catalogue marks a major milestone in drawing deserved attention to the strengths of our world class collection.”

Additionally, a companion book for young readers, Myths, Angels, and Masquerades: Exploring European has also been published. This colorful, interactive book is the first in The San Diego Museum of Art’s series “Art Unframed,” which will use the Museum’s Permanent Collection to create educational titles geared toward young readers and families.

Myths, Angels, and Masquerades uses religious art, still lifes, landscapes, and portraiture from Europe to introduce art historical concepts and vocabulary to young readers. Interactive special features invite budding artists to test their skills by drawing portraits, creating an altarpiece, painting a landscape, and more, all in spaces provided. The book was authored by Amy Gray and Lucy Holland, art educators at The San Diego Museum of Art.