Chapter I: Preface

The object of this series of text-books is to provide concise teachable histories of art for class-room use in schools and colleges. The limited time given to the study of art in the average educational institution has not only dictated the condensed style of the volumes, but has limited their scope of matter to the general features of art history. Archæological discussions on special subjects and æsthetic theories have been avoided. The main facts of history as settled by the best authorities are given. If the reader choose to enter into particulars the bibliography cited at the head of each chapter will be found helpful. Illustrations have been introduced as sight-help to the text, and, to avoid repetition, abbreviations have been used wherever practicable. The enumeration of the principal extant works of an artist, school, or period, and where they may be found, which follows each chapter, may be serviceable not only as a summary of individual or school achievement, but for reference by travelling students in Europe.

This volume on painting, the first of the series, omits mention of such work in Arabic, Indian, Chinese, and Persian art as may come properly under the head of Ornament--a subject proposed for separate treatment hereafter. In treating of individual painters it has been thought best to give a short critical estimate of the man and his rank among the painters of his time rather than the detailed facts of his life. Students who wish accounts of the lives of the painters should use Vasari, Larousse, and the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ in connection with this text-book.

Acknowledgments are made to the respective publishers of Woltmann and Woermann's History of Painting, and the fine series of art histories by Perrot and Chipiez, for permission to reproduce some few illustrations from these publications.

JOHN C. VAN DYKE.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I.

EGYPTIAN PAINTING

CHAPTER II.

CHALDÆO-ASSYRIAN, PERSIAN, PHOENICIAN, CYPRIOTE, AND ASIA MINOR PAINTING

CHAPTER III.

GREEK, ETRUSCAN, AND ROMAN PAINTING

CHAPTER IV.

ITALIAN PAINTING--EARLY CHRISTIAN AND MEDIÆVAL PERIOD, 200-1250

CHAPTER V.

ITALIAN PAINTING--GOTHIC PERIOD, 1250-1400

CHAPTER VI.

ITALIAN PAINTING--EARLY RENAISSANCE, 1400-1500

CHAPTER VII.

ITALIAN PAINTING--EARLY RENAISSANCE, 1400-1500, _Continued_

CHAPTER VIII.

ITALIAN PAINTING--HIGH RENAISSANCE, 1500-1600

CHAPTER IX.

ITALIAN PAINTING--HIGH RENAISSANCE, 1500-1600, _Continued_

CHAPTER X.

ITALIAN PAINTING--HIGH RENAISSANCE, 1500-1600, _Continued_

CHAPTER XI.

ITALIAN PAINTING--THE DECADENCE AND MODERN WORK, 1600-1894

CHAPTER XII.

FRENCH PAINTING--SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

CHAPTER XIII.

FRENCH PAINTING--NINETEENTH CENTURY

CHAPTER XIV.

FRENCH PAINTING--NINETEENTH CENTURY, _Continued_

CHAPTER XV.

SPANISH PAINTING

CHAPTER XVI.

FLEMISH PAINTING

CHAPTER XVII.

DUTCH PAINTING

CHAPTER XVIII.

GERMAN PAINTING

CHAPTER XIX.

BRITISH PAINTING