Reaktion Books Ltd, London, 2001. Signs of secondhand wear to dustjacket extremities, otherwise good copy.

The "invisible masterpiece" is an unattainable ideal, a work in which a dream of absolute art is incorporated but can never be realised. By means of this metaphor borrowed from Balzac, Hans Belting shows the variety of ways in which the status and meaning of the masterpiece have been elevated anddenigrated since the early nineteenth century. Highly illustrated with numerous pivotal images.