The book has been translated into Persian by Mahshid Nonahali. Tehran-based Nazar Publishing has released 'Painting Stories' in 225 pages.

With the enthusiasm, audacity, and erudition that, in the same collection, Daniel Arasse invites his reader on a journey through the history of painting over six centuries, from the invention of perspective to the disappearance of the figure.

Evoking major issues—perspective, the Annunciation, the status of detail, the ups and downs of anachronism, restoration, and the conditions of visibility and exhibition—but also specific painters and paintings, he brings to life with insight and fervor several key moments, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Mannerism, or even Vermeer, Ingres, and Manet.

His analysis is constantly nourished by concrete examples - Raphael's Sistine Madonna, the Mona Lisa, Mantegna's The Wedding Chamber, Fragonard's The Bolt… - before concluding on some aspects of contemporary art. The reader will rediscover the desire to better see great episodes of painting, thanks to a sensitive and open approach.

He will always be surprised, awakened, drawn into a true enchantment of intelligence and humor. This book is the transcription of twenty-five programs offered by the author on France Culture during the summer of 2003.

Daniel Arasse was specialised in the Renaissance and Italian art. He was the son of art critic, Henriette Arasse.

His publication, "Le Détail, Pour une histoire rapprochée de la peinture' (1992) won the Charles-Blanc Prize in 1993. Another book 'La Guillotine et L'imaginaire de la Terreur' (1987), was translated into English as 'The Guillotine and the Terror' (1989).