• "... some people are fond of paintings or sculptures which leave them something to guess and ponder about." [p. 24]
• "... newcomers ... want to admire the artist's skill in representing the things they see. What they like best are paintings which 'look real'. ... this is an important consideration." [p. 24]
• "There are two things, therefore, which we should always ask ourselves if we find fault with the accuracy of a picture. One is whether the artist may not have had his reasons for changing the appearance of what he saw. ... The other is that we should never condemn a work for being incorrectly drawn unless we have made quite sure that we are right and the painter is wrong." [p. 27]
• "There is no greater obstacle to the enjoyment of great works of art than our unwillingness to discard habits and prejudices." [p. 29]
• "... most of the paintings and statues which are now lined up along the walls of our museums and galleries were not meant to be displayed as Art. They were made for a definite occasion and a definite purpose." [p. 32]
• "... it is usually impossible to explain in words exactly why we feel that it is a great work of art. But that does not mean than one work is just as good as any other, or that one cannot discuss matters of taste. ... taste can be developed. .. if they have leisure, will and opportunity. ... their greater knowledge is bound to add to their enjoyment." [p. 36]
  • This would seem to describe my situation fairly well.
• "One never finishes learning about art. ... Great works of art seem to look different every time one stands before them. They seem to be as inexhaustible and unpredictable as real human beings." [p. 36]

Chap. 1 Strange Beginnings: Prehistoric and primitive peoples; Ancient America

• "Those who use buildings ... judge them first and foremost by standards of utility." [p. 39]
• "Similarly, we are not likely to understand the art of the past if we are quite ignorant of the aims it had to serve." [p. 39]
• "Among these primitives, there is no difference between building and image-making as far as usefulness is concerned. Their huts are there to shelter them from rain, wind and sunshine and the spirits which produce them; images are made to protect them against other powers which are, to them, as real as the forces of nature. Pictures and statues, in other words, are used to work magic." [p. 39-40]
• "It is not their standard of craftsmanship which is different from ours, but their ideas. ... the whole story of art is not a story of progress in technical proficiency, but a story of changing ideas and requirements." [p. 44]

• About 1000 BC Greece was invaded from the north resulting in a new group of settlers. Because of the geography, a collection of city-states formed. Of these, Athens became "the most famous and important in the history of art." [p. 77]
• This was where artists (both sculptors and painters) began to experiment with the formal rules of the Egyptians. The only paintings that have survived are those on pottery.
• "... the artist no longer aimed at including everything in the picture in its most clearly visible form, but took account of the angle from which he saw an object." [p. 81]
• "... we also realize that the lessons of Egyptian art had not simply been discarded and thrown overboard. Greek artists still tried to make their figures as clear in outline as possible, and to include as much of their knowledge of the human body as would go into the picture. ... They still loved firm outlines and balanced design. They were far from trying to copy any casual glimpse of nature as they saw it. The old formula, the type of human form as it had developed in all these centuries, was still their starting point. Only they no longer considered it sacred in every detail." [Pp. 81-81]
• "... the very reason why nearly all the famous statues of the ancient world perished was that after the victory of Christianity it was considered a pious duty to smash any statue of the heathen gods. The sculptures in our museums are, for the most part, only secondhand copies made in Roman times." [p. 84
  • I did not know this!
  • Last year the Taliban destroyed two Buddha statues that were over 2000 years old for the same reason.
• Greek statues were actually quite colorful, with paint as well as jewels and gold & silver inlay.
  • I did not know this either!
• Greek statues from this period were primarily made of bronze. This would be much easier to work with than marble since one could fashion the original work in wax.

Chap. 4 The Realm of Beauty: Greece and the Greek World, 4th century BC to first century AD

• From about 400 BC onwards, Greeks began to become interested in art for its own sake, rather than just for its religious or political significance.
• In architecture (generally considered to be 'art') the Doric style of column [a wide column with a square 'cap' at the top] began to coexist with the Ionian style [ narrower column, with a scroll at the top].
• "The educated Greeks now discussed paintings and statues as they discussed poems and plays; they praised their beauty or criticized their form and conception." [p. 100]
• One of the famous Greek sculptors was Praxiteles, but his work is only known through prose descriptions of it.
• The Greeks "idealized" their subjects, rather than making them genuinely lifelike.
• "Many of the most famous works of classical art ... were created in the middle of the fourth century BC." [e.g..Apollo Belvedere, Venus of Milo]
• "It was in the time of Alexander that people started to discuss this new art of portraiture." [p. 106]
• "The foundation of an empire by Alexander was an enormously important event for Greek art, for thereby it developed from being the concern of a few small cities into the pictorial language of almost half the world. ... Hellenistic art, because that is the name commonly given to the empires founded by Alexander's successors on eastern soil." [Pp. 106-108]
• "Many of the masters most famous among the ancients were painters rather than sculptors, and we know nothing about their works except what we find in those extracts from classical art books." [p. 111]
• "The only way in which we can form some idea of the character of ancient painting is by looking at the decorative wall-paintings and mosaics which have come to light in Pompeii. (79 AD)" [p. 113
• "Artists drew distant things small, and near or important things large, but the law of regular diminution of objects as they become more distant ... was not applied for another thousand years." [p 114]
• "... knowledge of the characteristic outline of individual objects counts for as much as the actual impression received through the eye." [p. 115]

Chap. 5 World Conquerors: Romans, Buddhists, Jews and Christians, 1st to 4th century AD

• "... art remained more or less unchanged while the Romans conquered the world and founded their own empire on the ruins of the Hellenistic kingdoms. Most artists who worked in Rome were Greeks." [p. 117]
• "The most outstanding achievement of the Romans was probably in civil engineering. ... The most famous of their buildings is the huge arena known as the Colosseum." [p. 117]
• "Perhaps known of their architectural creations made a more lasting impression than the triumphal arches that the Romans set up all over their Empire in Italy, France, North Africa and Asia. ... the arch played little or no part in Greek buildings" [p. 117-119]
• "... the most wonderful of these buildings is the Pantheon or temple of the gods." [p. 121]
• "Even in far-distant India, the Roman way of telling a story, and of glorifying a hero, [by sculpting a relief] was adopted by artists who set themselves the task of illustrating the story of a peaceful conquest, the story of the Buddha." [p. 124]
• The peaceful statues and heads of the Buddha show the same Greek manner of creating an idealized image.
• With the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, art also experienced a decline, largely due to the general turmoil of wars, revolts and invasions.

Chap. 6 A Parting of Ways: Rome and Byzantium, 5th to 13th century

• In 311 AD the Emperor Constantine established the Christian Church as a power in the State. ... But once the Church had become the greatest power in the realm, its whole relationship to art had to be reconsidered. ... had to find room for the whole congregation that assembled for service ... used the model of a large assembly hall called a basilica, which meant 'royal hall'.
• There was considerable controversy about how to decorate churches while not permitting idolitry. Paintings were accepted in the west, but in the east there was still debate between two factions, one of which banned all art and the other which adopted the position that religious art was sacred and should conform to established standards. The latter then became the famous Byzantium religious art that is still seen today, particularly in Russia.

Chap. 7 Looking Eastward: India, China, 2nd to 13th century

• In the case of Islam, images were forbidden. As a result, they developed a very rich tapestry of patterns. Later sects did allow the painting of images as long as they had no connection to religion.
• In China, the images were intended to facilitate meditation. The calm and serene images of mountains in mist or fish in a pool are classic examples.
• This did not change until the 18th century when Eastern cultures were once again exposed to Western art.

Chap. 8 Western Art in the Melting Pot: Europe, 6th to 11th century

• Medieval artists were only concerned with portraying the sacred story. There was no effort to create realistic likenesses of what was seen.
• There were a few non-religious pictures (e.g. the Bayeaux Tapestry), but most work was for churches.

Chap. 9 The Church Militant: 12th century

• The Normans (from Normandy!) conquered England in 1066 and initiated the building of massive stone churches. The church was often the only stone building anywhere in the neighborhood. "The whole impression which these churches make, both inside and outside, is one of massive strength". [p. 173]
• Architecturally, the challenge was to place a stone roof at the top of the structure. "It was found that the best method of doing this was by spanning the arches or 'ribs' crosswise between the pillars and then filling in the triangular sections between them." [p. 175] (e.g. the Norman cathedral of Durham).
• All art work and sculpture was placed in the church in order to help convey the messges of the holy scriptures. Much of the painting was fairly close to that of the Eastern Byzantine culture.

Chap. 10 The Church Triumphant: 13th century

• Western architects continued to experiment and there quickly developed a new style, called Gothic. The idea was that heavy walls were no longer needed, only columns spaced apart which allowed for the inclusion of large glass windows and a much brighter interior. Buttresses on the outside of the columns balanced the horizontal forces from the overhead arches. Flying buttresses were invented that overarched the aisles on the outside of the nave. These buildings "seemed to proclaim the glories of heaven." [p. 189]
• "After the year 1200 many new and magnificent cathedrals sprang up in France and also in neighboring countries." [p. 190]
• "To work for cathedrals was the main task of the northern sculptors of the thirteenth century. The most frequent task of the northern painters of that time was still the illumination of manuscripts." [p. 195]
• "... the whole training and upbringing of the medieval artist ... started by being apprenticed to a master, whom he assisted at first by carrying out his instructions and filling in relatively unimportant parts of a picture. Gradually he would learn how to represent an apostle, and how to draw the Holy Virgin. He would learn to copy and rearrange scenes from old books, and fit them into different frames. ... Never in his career would he be faced with the necessity of taking a sketchbook and drawing something from life." [p. 196]
• Giottio was a Florentine artist who is considered to be the first to draw realistic paintings in over a thousand years. He is responsible for changing "'the whole conception of painting". [p. 201] He also became the first artist with an individual reputation. From this point on, both the work and the artist were considered important.

Chap. 11 Courtiers and Burghers: the 14th century

• "In the middle of the twelfth century, when the Gothic style was first developed, Europe was still a thinly populated continent of peasants with monestaries and barons' castles as the main centres of power and learning. ... But a hundred and fifty years later these towns had grown into teeming centres of trade whose burghers felt increasingly independent of the power of the Church and the feudal lords." (1150 - 1300) [p. 207]
• "Churches were no longer the main tasks of the architects. In the growing and prosperous cities many secular buildings had to be designed - town halls, guild halls, colleges, palaces, bridges and city gates." [p. 207-208]
• "The most characteristic works of sculpture in the fourteenth century are the ... smaller works of precious metal or ivory, in which the craftsmen of the period excelled." [p. 209-10]
• "In Italy, particularly in Florence, the art of Giotto had changed the whole idea of painting." [p. 212]
• "The painters of Siena had not broken with the earlier Byzantine tradition in such an abrupt and revolutionary manner." [p. 212]
• "Artists and ideas travelled from one centre to another, and no one thought of rejecting an achievement because it was 'foreign'. ... the 'International Style' " [p. 215]
• "The artists of the International style applied the same power of observation, and the same delight in delicate and beautiful things, to their portrayal of the world around them." [p. 218]
• "Formerly it was sufficient training to learn the ancient formulas for representing the main figures of the sacred story. ... Now the artist ... had to be able to make studies from nature and to transfer them to his pictures. He began to use a sketchbook, and to lay up a store of sketches of rare and beautiful plants and animals." [p. 220]
• "The public which looked at the artist's works began to judge them by the skill with which nature was portrayed. and by the wealth of attractive details which the artist managed to bring into his pictures." [p. 221]

Chap. 12 The Conquest of Reality: the early 15th century

• A Forentine architect, Flippo Brunelleschi, set new standards for architecture that lasted for almost 500 years. He designed the dome for the cathedral of Florence (1420-36). "Brunelleschi has combined columns, pilasters and arches in his own way to achieve an effect of lightness and grace which is different from anything which has gone before." [p. 226]
• Brunellesschi also discovered the mathematical principle underlying perspective.
• Masaccio, another Florentine, painted (fresco) one of the first images using perspective, "Holy Trinity with the Virgin, St. John and donors" (1425-8), which shows the image within a vaulted arch, giving it a real 3-D quality. "Instead of delicate grace, they saw massive heavy figures; instead of easy-flowing curves, solid angular forms..." [p. 229]
• Donatello, a Florentine sculptor, made a statue of St. George (1415-16). "His whole approach to the art of sculpture shows a completely new conception. ... a fresh and determined study of the real features of the human body". [p. 230]
• Jan van Eyck, a Flemish painter, represented another totally new approach to art. His most famous work "The Ghent alterpiece" (1432) is a huge wooden alterpiece that is opened out on religious holidays to reveal an inner painting. Jan van Eyck also is credited with inventing oil paint, a much more desirable form than the egg based tempera.
• "Van Eyck's art reached perhaps its greatest triumph in the painting of portraits. (e.g. "The betrothal of the Arnolfinin") [p. 240]
• A Swiss painter called Konrad Witz is credited with producing the first exact representation of a scene "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes". (Lake Geneva).

Chap. 13 Traditiion and Innovation: I the later 15th century in Italy

• Toward the end of the 15 century cities began to form their own identities and vied with one another for both commercial and artistic importance. With the formation of guilds, each city developed its own tradition and various 'schools' of art became identifiable.
• Fra Angelica, a monk, painted "The Annunciation" (1440) painted a number of frescos in his monestary that exhibited excellent use of perspective as well as soft colors to portray sacred scenes.
• Sandro Botticelli combined perspective and life like images. His most famous picture is "The birth of Venus" (1485).

Chap 14 Tradition and Innovation: II the 15th century in the North

• "The difference between the North and Italy is most clearly marked in architecture. Brunelleschi had put an end to the Gothic style in Florence. ... It was nearly a century before the artists outside Italy followed his example. [p. 269
• The leading French artist of the period was Jean Fouquet [1420?-1480?] who painted "Etienne Chevalier, Treasurer of Charles VII of France, with St. Stephen". (1450). "The way in which these calm and statuesque figures stand as in real space shows that Fouguet had been deeply impressed by what he had seen it Italy. ... The interest he takes in the texture and surface of things - the fur, the stone, the cloth and the marble - shows that his art remains indebted to the northern tradition of Jan van Eyck." [p. 275]
• Another great northern artist was Rogier van der Weyden [1400? - 1464] who lived in the southern Netherlands. He is famous for having produced the alter painting "The Descent from the Cross" [1435]. "... by translating the main ideas of Gothic art into the new, lifelike style, Rogier did a great service to northern art. He saved much of the tradition of lucid design that might otherwise have been lost under the impact of Jan van Eyck's discoveries. Henceforward northern artists tried, each in his own way, to reconcile the new demands on art with its old religous purpose." [p. 276]
• In the middle of the 15th century Gutenberg invented printing using movable type.

Chap. 15 Harmony Retained: Tuscany and Rome, early 16th century

• This is the most famous period of Italian art: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Titian and Durer. It is also known as the High Renaissance.
• An architect, Donato Bramante [1444-1514] was commissioned to build a new St. Peter's Basilica for Pope Julius 11 in 1506. It was to include a huge dome, but the cost of doing this was prohibitive, and the levies (via indulgences) was one of the reasons for Martin Luther's Reformation.
• Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper in 1495-98.
• Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa in 1502. Leonardo invented the blurred outline and mellowed colours which made images so lifelike.
• Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in 1508-12.
• Raphael is well known for his many Madonna paintings.
• Raphael painted The nymph Galatia in 1512-14.

Chap. 16 Light and Color: Venice and northern Italy, early 16th century

• In addition to Florence, the other major Italian center for art was Venice.
• Giovanni Bellini painted Madonna with saints in 1505.
• His student Giogione painted The tempest in 1508, which made use of light to illuminate the key features
• His other famous student was Titian, who painted Madonna with saints and members of the Pesaro family in 1519-26.
• Titian was famous for his portraits (e.g. Young Englishman, 1540-5)
• Correggio, from northern Italy, made superb use of light when he painted The Holy Night in 1530.

Chap. 17 The New Learning Spreads: Germany and the Netherlands, early 16th century

• great German artist, Albrecht Durer, was renown for his woodblocks, his faithful watercolors of nature and his engravings
• another German who began to paint woodland scenes was Albrecht Altdorfer. His paintings contained no people, nor did it tell a story -a radical departure at that time.
• Netherlands: Mabuse painted St. Luke painting the virgin in 1515 , which showed a superb mastery of both perspective and light.
• Netherlands also had Hieronymus Bosch who painted horrific detailed images of monsters and hell.

Chap. 18 A Crisis of Art: Europe, later 16C

• artists were in the shadow of what had been accomplished, and either tried to copy those efforts or elaborate on them, neither with much success.
• Tintoretto from Venice, succeeded in painting pictures that conveyed a lot of emotion, but they were not pleasing to the eye.
• Similar statements apply to a painter from Crete, now living in Spain, called El Greco.
• The Protestant Reformation raised the issue of whether there should even be any religious paintings.
• Hans Holbein the Younger, a German, was known for his portraits.
• Pieter Bruegel the Elder, from Flanders, painted scenes from peasant life.

Chap. 19 Visions and Visions: Catholic Europe, first half of 17C

• Within Catholic Europe the Baroque style became popular.
• Carracci and Caravaggio were two painters in Rome who revived the classical religious painting
• The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens painted very colorful religious paintings
• Anthony van Dyck, Flemish, became known for portraits of nobility and gentlemen.
• Valazquez, Spanish, also was known for his portraits.

Chap. 20 The Mirror of Nature: Holland, 17th C

• The Protestant areas were only interested in restrained, nonreligious paintings, particularly portraits.
• Frans Hals, Netherlands, developed a refreshing informal style for portraits
• Rembrandt became famous for his portraits
• Others became known for specializing in a particular style
• Jan Steen focused on scenes from peasant life
• Jacob van Ruisdael was known for his landscapes.
• Willem Kelf helped develop still life images, often of food.
• Jan Vermeer only painted every day scenes of simple life.

Chap. 21 Power and Glory I: Italy, later 17th & 18th C

• Bernini, a sculptor, produced some strinking religious figures as part of the Baroque movement

Chap.22 Power and Glory II: France, Germany & Austria, late 17th C & early 18th C

• Palace of Versailles built near Paris
• Austria & Germany built large Baroque churches and palaces (e.g Melk monastery on the Danube)

Chap. 23 The Age of Reason: England & France, 18th C

• Christopher Wren designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London
• Sir Joshua Reynolds (England), painted portraits, and believed in rules of taste and the importance of authority in art
• Thomas Gainsborough (England) painted portraits
• In France, support for the Boroque was in decline

Chap. 24 The Break in Tradition: England, America & France, late 18th C & early 19th C

• painters were looking for new types of subject matter
• an American, John Singleton Copley, painted a detailed scene from British history, starting a new genre
• Francisco Goya (Spain) continued the tradition of realistic portraits
• William Blake (England) painted images from his dreams
• Joseph Turner (England) pioneered the painting of 'poetic' scenes that converyed emotion rather than detail.

Chap. 25 Permanent Revolution: 19th C

• Industrial Revolution began to replace craftsmanship with machine production
• Paris became the artistic capital of the world
• Leading conservative painter was Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
• First wave of the new revolution: Eugene Delacroix emphasized color and imagination rather than strict realism
• Jean_Francoise Miller (The gleaners) painted peasant life in a realistic manner
• Second wave of the new revolution: Gustave Courbert began the Realistic movement which emphasized painting scenes as one saw them.
• Third wave of the new revolution: Edouard Manet, who emphasized what we see.
• Claude Monet (Belgium), together with Manet, became known as the Impressionists
• Pierre Auguste Renoir also was a member of this group.
• So was Edgar Degas
• Auguste Rodin became widely known as a modern sculptor.
• James Abbott McNeil Whistler (American) also painted with an emphasis on what he saw.

Chap. 26 In Search of New Standards: late 19th C

• Paul Cezanne, an Impressionist, emphasized form and composition in his landscapes, which led to Cubism
• Georges Seurat tried a pointillist style
• Vincent van Gogh, (Dutch) initiated a new style, called Expressionism.
• Paul Gauguin (French) also painted very expressive, primitive paintings
• Toulouse-Lautrec developed a poster style, much like Japanese woodblock prints

Chap. 27 Experimental Art: first half of 20th C

• Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect.
• Wassily Kadinsky (Russian) first to paint without a recognizable object (abstract art)
• Henri Matisse emphasized color
• Pablo Picasso (Spain) emphasized shape and created Cubism
• Lyonel Feininger (American) used overlapping triangles to convey sailboats
• Henry Moore (English sculptor) emphasized shape
• Grant Wood (American) focused on simple use of color to convey scenes
• Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali began the surrealist movement.