This catalogue contains entries on fifteenth- and sixteenth- (and one seventeenth-) century German (and Austrian) paintings in the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, both German and Austrian. Entries are arranged alphabetically by artist and there is a short biography and bibliography for each artist. Individual entries follow the model established by earlier systematic catalogues and full scholarly and technical information is provided for each painting. Questions of attribution, iconography, and social and religious function and context are discussed and, where relevant, comparative examples, reconstructions of altarpieces, x-radiography and infra-red reflectogram assemblies are included. The catalogue also contains the results of dendrochronological examinations of the paintings.