"Organized according to an innovative concept - exploring the power of art to evoke fundamental human emotions - Rings: Five Passions in World Art brings together an extraordinary assemblage of artworks spanning seven millennia and the principal regions of the world. The 129 masterworks gathered here have been organized to represent five interlocking passions that have fascinated artists the world over: Love in all its many forms, physical, spousal, and parental, its joyous as well as heartbreaking aspects; Anguish, of loss, oppression, physical suffering, and death; Awe, of nature and the supernatural, including expressions of inwardness and spiritual transcendence; Triumph, the thrill of victory in religious, military, and athletic contexts; and Joy, in creation, in aesthetic, visual delight, in music, and in dance." "The book juxtaposes works by famous European masters - such as Rembrandt, Titian, El Greco, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso - with treasures from a wide variety of sources, many seldom seen or little known outside their country of origin." "Conceived and set forth by J. Carter Brown, director emeritus of the National Gallery of Art, with an essay by Jennifer Montagu of the Warburg Institute, London, and contributions by specialists from around the world, this book accompanies a landmark exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, a part of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, on the occasion of the Centennial of the Modern Olympic Games."--BOOK JACKET.