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