From Zinedine Zidane to Robert Burns, and from Dutch masters to the Castlemilk Lads, the 100 masterpieces of Scotland's national collections have been revealed by the director general of the National Galleries.

Sir John Leighton has picked 100 masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), which includes medieval religious work, treasures of the Renaissance, a series of Scottish artists, and contemporary art by Douglas Gordon, Ron Mueck, Martin Creed and Alison Watt.

His choice of the what he believes are the finest art in the collections is being published this week in a new book, 100 Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland.

Leighton has taken his list of works from the Scottish National Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

The list includes images such as Sir Henry Raeburn's Reverend Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, John Singer Sargent's Lady Agnew and Canova's Three Graces, as well as less well known works such as a image of the Campbell of Glenorchy Family Tree and works by Joseph Beuys, pioneer photographers David Octavius Hill & Robert Adamson, Damien Hirst and Katie Patterson.

Scottish artists to make the list include Charles Rennie Mackintosh, John Bellany, Ken Currie, Allan Ramsay, William McTaggart, Eduardo Paolozzi and Joan Eardley.

Gordon's film, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which he made with Philippe Parreno, with music by Mogwai, is included as is Oscar Marzaroli's photograph of The Castlemilk Lads from 1963.

Major names included in the list include Titian, Rembrandt and Vermeer through to Picasso, Hockney and Warhol.

Other highlights include Sandro Botticelli's The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child; the 1766 Allan Ramsay portrait of David Hume; Sir Walter Scott, 1822-3 by Sir Henry Raeburn and Paul Gauguin's Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888.

The 100 works of art are not ranked in order of importance but are listed chronologically and grouped together by gallery.

When pressed, Sir John said that three of his favourite works are Velasquez's An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, Ken Currie's Three Oncologists from 2002 and Henri Matisse's The Painting Session from 1919.

Leighton said: "It has been fun to do. There are over 100,000 items in the collection now and to whittle that down to 100, is hard, so I agonised somewhat over the selection.

"I was also wary of the title 'masterpiece' because it is somewhat of an overused term.

"I like a broad definition: so there's a work like Velasquez's painting is a masterpiece in the traditional and the modern sense - it is the item which he presented to his seniors to prove his technical mastery and his independent voice.

"Other works in the list may stretch the use of that term but they are of exceptional interest in one way or another.

"Obviously it gets harder the closer you get to your own time, and that's where selection gets trickier."

Of the inclusion of Gordon's film of the famous French footballer, he said: "The juxtaposition of contemporary with Old Masters raises all sorts of questions: what will stand the test of time?

"What will still be considered exceptional in a hundred years from now? In terms of the collection we have, and of that film genre, it is an absolutely outstanding piece.

"Many of the aspects of that piece: the technical mastery - as a film it is dazzling - the play of contrasts of light and dark, of movement, of still and utter motion, some of that is quite familiar from Old Master painting, albeit in a different form.

"I can see how it may raise an eyebrow but its defensible."

Sir John Leighton was appointed Director-General of the National Galleries of Scotland in 2006, having previously been Director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and Curator of 19th-century paintings at the National Gallery in London.

He added: "I think the balance is pretty good.

"You couldn't rank them, there are works which are so very, very different - how do you rank an installation in neon against an oil painting? Bringing across the range and the quality is what the book is about: it is a celebration."

-----The 100 Masterpieces---

Bernardo Daddi: Triptych, 1338

Lorenzo Monaco (Pier di Giovanni) and Workshop: The Virgin and Child Enthroned about 1418

Hugo van der Goes: The Trinity Altarpiece, about 1478 - 1479

Sandro Botticelli: The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child, about 1485

Leonardo da Vinci:Studies of a Dog's Paw about 1490 - 1495

Raphael (Raffaello Santi): The Holy Family with a Palm Tree, about 1506-7

Gerard David: Three Legends of Saint Nicholas about 1500 - 1520

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio): Diana and Actaeon, 1556 - 1559

Titian (Tiziano Vecellio): Diana and Callisto, 1556 - 1559

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos): An Allegory (Fàbula) about 1580 - 1585

Adam Elsheimer: The Stoning of Saint Stephen, about 1603 - 1604

Diego Velázquez: An Old Woman Cooking Eggs, 1618

Gianlorenzo Bernini: Portrait Bust of Monsignor Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo, Archbishop of Pisa (1547 -1607) 1620

Sir Peter Paul Rubens: The Feast of Herod about 1635 - 1638

Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn): A Woman in Bed, about 1645 - 1646

Nicolas Poussin: The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist 1647

Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée): Landscape with Apollo and the Muses, 1652

Johannes Vermeer: Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, about 1654 - 1656

Jean-Antoine Watteau: Fêtes Vénitiennes, 1718 - 1719

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin: A Vase of Flowers early 1760s

Allan Ramsay:The Artist's Wife: Margaret Lindsay of Evelick 1758 - 1760

Thomas Gainsborough: The Honorable Mrs Graham, 1775-7

Sir Henry Raeburn: Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, about 1795

Sir David Wilkie: Pitlessie Fair, 1804

Antonio Canova: The Three Graces (Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia), 1815 - 1817

John Constable: The Vale of Dedham, 1828

Joseph Mallord William Turner: The Piazzetta, Venice, about 1835

Frederick Edwin Church: Niagara Falls, from the American Side, 1867

Edgar Degas: Diego Martelli, 1879

Georges Seurat: Seated Nude: Study for 'Une Baignade', 1883

Sir James Guthrie: In the Orchard, 1886

Paul Gauguin: Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888

Vincent van Gogh: Olive Trees, 1889

William McTaggart: The Storm 1890

Claude Monet: Poplars on the Epte, 1891

Paul Cézanne: Montagne Sainte-Victoire 1890 - 1895

John Singer Sargent: Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1892

Unknown artist: Mary Queen of Scots, about 1610-15

Unknown artist: Esther Kello, 1595

Marcus Greeraerts the Younger: Tom Derry, 1614

George Jamesone: The Campbell of Glenorchy Family Tree 1635

Sir Anthony Van Dyck: Princess Elizabeth and Prince Anne, 1637

John Michael Wright: Lord Mungo Murray [Am Morair Mungo Moireach], 1668 - 1700. Son of 1st Marquess of Atholl about 1683

Richard Wilson: Flora Macdonald [Fionnghal nighean Raghnaill 'ic Aonghais �ig], 1747.

Paolo Monaldi, Pubalacci, Silvestri (Louis de Silvestre?): Prince James receiving his son, Prince Henry, in front of the Palazzo del Re About 1747-1748

William Mosman: Sir James Macdonald and Sir Alexander Macdonald, about 1749

Allan Ramsay: David Hume,1766

Alexander Nasmyth: Robert Burns, 1787

James Tassie: Robert Adam, 1792

Sir Henry Raeburn: Sir Walter Scott,1822

Robert Adamson, David Octavius Hill: The Scott Monument, about 1845

Charles Lees: The Golfers, 1847

Richard Dadd: Sir Alexander Morison, 1852

Alexander Hutchison: St Kilda, about 1890

Count Girolamo Nerli: Robert Louis Stevenson,1892

Sir William Nicholson: Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1904

Alfred G Buckham: Aerial view of Edinburgh, about 1920

Percy Wyndham Lewis: Naomi Mitchison, 1938

Bill Brandt:Loch Slapin, Skye, 1947

Oscar Marzaroli: The Castlemilk Lads, 1963

John Byrne:Self Portrait in a Flowered Jacket, 1971-3

Alexander Moffat: Poet's Pub, 1980

Ken Currie: Three Oncologists, 2002

Michael Reisch:Landscape, 7/001, 2007

Angela Palmer: Brain of the artist, 2012

Christian Hook:Alan Cumming, 2014

André Derain: Collioure, 1905

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Japanese Theatre, c.1909

Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh: The Mysterious Garden, 1911

Pablo Picasso: Head (Tete), 1913

Henri Matisse: The Painting Session (La Seance de peinture), 1919

F.C.B. Cadell: Portrait of a Lady in Black, 1921

Paul Klee: Ghost of a Genius, 1922

Joan Miró: Maternity, 1924

Max Ernst: Sea and Sun, 1925

Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Montalba, about 1924-7

René Magritte: Threatening Weather, 1929

Alberto Giacometti: Woman with her Throat Cut, 1932

Ben Nicholson: 1935 (white relief), 1935

Joan Eardley: Street Kids, about 1949-51

Eduardo Paolozzi: St Sebastian I, 1957

Alan Davie: Lush Life No.1, 1961

Roy Lichtenstein: In the Car, 1963

David Hockney: Rocky Mountains and Tired Indians, 1965

Duane Hanson: Tourists, 1970

Joseph Beuys: Three Pots for the Poorhouse - Action Object, 1974

Robert Mapplethorpe: Patti Smith, 1976

Andy Warhol: Skulls, 1976

Ian Hamilton Finlay (with John Andrew): Et in Arcadia Ego, 1976

Georg Baselitz: Untitled (Ohne Titel) 1982-4

Ed Ruscha: The Music from the Balconies, 1984

Steven Campbell: Elegant Gestures of the Drowned after Max Ernst, 1986

John Bellany: Prague Easter, 1992

Damien Hirst: Away from the Flock, 1994

Gerhard Richter: Abstract Painting, 1994

Alison Watt: Sabine, 2000

Douglas Gordon and Phillippe Parreno: Zidane - A 21st Century Portrait, 2005/6

Ron Mueck: A Girl, 2006

Katie Paterson: Light Bulb to Simulate Moonlight, 2008

Martin Creed: Work No.975: Everything Is Going To Be Alright, 2008