Preface 7
Introduction: On art and artists 15
1 Strange Beginnings: Prehistoric and primitive peoples; Ancient America 39
2 Art for Eternity: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete 55
3 The Great Awakening: Greece, seventh to fifth century BC 75
4 The Realm of Beauty: Greece and the Greek world, fourth century BC to first century AD 99
5 World Conquerors: Romans, Buddhists, Jews and Christians, first to fourth century AD 117
6 A Parting of Ways: Rome and Byzantium, fifth to thirteenth century 133
7 Looking Eastwards: Islam, China, second to thirteenth century 143
8 Western Art in the Melting Pot: Europe, sixth to eleventh century 157
9 The Church Militant: The twelfth century 171
10 The Church Triumphant: The thirteenth century 185
11 Courtiers and Burghers: The fourteenth century 207
12 The Conquest of Reality: The early fifteenth century 223
13 Tradition and Innovation I: The later fifteenth century in Italy 247
14 Tradition and Innovation II: The fifteenth century in the North 269
15 Harmony Attained: Tuscany and Rome, early sixteenth century 287
16 Light and Colour: Venice and northern Italy, early sixteenth century 325
17 The New Learning Spreads: Germany and the Netherland, early sixteenth century 341
18 A Crisis of Art: Europe, later sixteenth century 361
19 Vision and Visions: Catholic Europe, first half of the seventeenth century 387
20 The Mirror of Nature: Holland, seventeenth century 413
21 Power and Glory I: Italy, later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 435
22 Power and Glory II: France, Germany and Austria, late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries 447
23 The Age of Reason: England and France, eighteenth century 457
24 The Break in Tradition: England, America and France, late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries 475
25 Permanent Revolution: The nineteenth century 499
26 In Search of New Standards: The late nineteenth century 535
27 Experimental Art: The first half of the twentieth century 557
28 A Story Without End
The triumph of Modernism 599
Another turning of the tide 618
The changing past 626
A note on art books 638
Chronological charts 655
Maps 664
List of illustrations by location 670
Index and glossary 674
Acknowledgements 687
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