Preface 7
Introduction: On art and artists 21
Strange Beginnings: Prehistoric and primitive peoples; Ancient America 37
Art for Eternity: Egypt, Mesopotamia, Crete 49
The Great Awakening: Greece, seventh to fifth century BC63
The Realm of Beauty: Greece and the Greek world, fourth century BC to first century AD81
World Conquerors: Romans, Buddhists, Jews and Christians, first to fourth century AD 93
A Parting of Ways: Rome and Byzantium, fifth to thirteenth century 103
Looking Eastwards: Islam, China, second to thirteenth century 111
Western Art in the Melting Pot: Europe, sixth to eleventh century 119
The Church Militant: The twelfth century 129
The Church Triumphant: The thirteenth century 139
Courtiers and Burghers: The fourteenth century 155
The Conquest of Reality: The early fifteenth century 167
Tradition and Innovation i: The later fifteenth century in Italy 183
Tradition and Innovation ii: The fifteenth century in the North 201
Harmony Attained: Tuscany and Rome, early sixteenth century 215
Light and Colour: Venice and northern Italy, early sixteenth century 247
The New Learning Spreads: Germany and the Netherlands, early sixteenth century 257
A Crisis of Art: Europe, later sixteenth century 273
Vision and Visions: Catholic Europe, first half of the seventeenth century 293
The Mirror of Nature: Holland, seventeenth century 315
Power and Glory i: Italy, later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 331
Power and Glory ii: France, Germany and Austria, late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries 339
The Age of Reason: England and France, eighteenth century 347
The Break in Tradition: England, America and France, late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries 361
Permanent Revolution: The nineteenth century 379
In Search of New Standards: The late nineteenth century 411
Experimental Art: The first half of the twentieth century 429
A Story without End
The triumph of Modernism 465
Another turning of the tide 486
The changing past 493
Plates 505
A note on art books 953
List of illustrations by location 985
Detailed illustrations list 997
Index and glossary 1021
Acknowledgements 1043