The Story of Art

E. H. GOMBRICH THE STORY OF ART PHAIDON Portrait of Michelangelo. Detail/rom a brmlze bUSI by DANH!L£ DA VOLTERRA. About 1565. Rome, Capiroli"c Muscum Phaidon Press Limited, Lililegate House, St Ebbe's SUCCI, Oxford , OX I I SQ First published 1950 Second edition 1950 Third edition 1951 Fourth edition 1952 Fifth edition 1953 Sixth edition 1954 Seventh edition 1955 Eighth edition 1956 Ninth edition 1958 Tenth ed ition 1960 Rcprintl"d 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964 Eleventh edition (revised and enlarged) 1966 Repri nted 1966, 1967 (threc times), 1968 Twelfth edition (enlarged and redesigned) 1972 Reprim ...-d 1972, 1973. 1974, 1975. 1976 Thirteenth edition (enlarged and revised) 1978 Reprinted 1979,1981, 1982, 1983 Fourteenth edition (enlarged and reset) 1984 (I) 1972, 1978, 1984 Phaidon Press Limited British Library ~ta loguin g in I'ublication Data Gombrich, E. H. The story ofart.- 14th cd. L Art- History 709 N5300 I SIlN 0-7148-2276-0 ISBN 0-7148-2277-9 Pbk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored ill a reuieval syst ... m or tnmsmined, in any form or by IIny means, cll'Ctronic, mechnn ical. photocopying, recording or orherwise, without Ille prior permission of Ph aid on Press. Typeset in Monophoto Pl:mtin by HAS Primers Limited, Over W31l0P, Hampshire Printed and bound in Spain by H. Foumil!r, S. A.- VilOria Contents Preface Inlroduction: on art and artistJ 4 J. Strange beginnings: prell/sLaric and primitive peoples; anciem America 19 2. Art for eternity: c,gYPlJ Mesopotamia, Crete 3 1 3. The great awakening: Greece, seventh to fifth ,emury Be 46 4. The realm of beauty: Greece alld the Greek world,Jourth ceruury IJC to first Cetllllry AD 65 5. World conquerors: Romans, BuddhislS,Jews, and Christia1lS,jirst ro fourth cenlUry AI) 80 6. A parting of ways: Rome and ByzaTilium,fiflh to Ihirleemh century 94 7. Looking eastwards: Islam, China, second (0 lhirleemh century 102 8. Western art in the melting pOL: Europe, sixth LO elevelllh eel/Wry 113 9. The Church militant: lhe lwelfth century 125 10. The C hurch triumphant : the thirteemh cemury 137 II . Courtiers and burghers: thefollrleenrh cetHury I SS 12. The conque!;[ of reality: the early fifteemh century 167 13. Tradition and innovation : fhe later fifteenth cemury in Italy 183 14. Tradition and innovation : thefifteeruh ce1Jl.Ilry ift the North 202 15. Harmony attained: Tuscany and l?ome, early sixteelllh cetltllry 2 17 16. Light and colour : VeT/ice and northern Italy, early sixteemh cemury 247 17. The new learning spreads: Germany and lhe Netherlands, early sixteen/h cemury 260 18. A crisis of art: Europe, laLer sixteenth cemury 277 19. Vision and visions: Catholic Europe,first half of lIle uveuteelllh cemury 30 1 20. The mirror of nature: Holland, sevemeemh cemury 325 21. Power and glory: Italy, later scvetlfeemh and eighleemh centuries 342 22. Power and glory: France, Germany and Austria, late scvellleewli and early eiglileelllh centuries 352 23. The age of rea!;on: England and France. eighteenth cemury 360 24. The break in tradition: England, America and Prance, lale eighteenth and early ni,lCteelllh ce1/turies 375 25. Permanent revolution: the "ineteewh cemury 395 26. In search of new standards: the late nineteelllh century 425 27. Experimental art : lhefirst half of the lwemiefh century 442 The changing scene : a postscript ( 1966) 476 Supplement: 1zew discoveries 491 Chronological charts 503 A note on art books 510 Acknowledgements 516 1ndex and glossary 517 Preface to the twelfth edition THIS BOOK was planned from the outset to tell the story orart in both words and pictures by enabling the reader as far as possible to have Lhc illustration discussed in the text in front of him, without having to tum the page. J still Lreasurc the memory of the unconventional and resource- ful way in which Dr Bela Horovitz and Mr Ludwig Goldscheidcc, the founders of the Phaidon Press, achieved this aim in 1949 by making me write another paragraph here or suggesting an extra illustnuion lhcrc. The result of these weeks of intense collaboration certainly justified the procedure, but the balance arrived at was so delicate that no major alter- ations could be contemplated while the original la y-out was retained. Only the last few chapters were slightly modified for the eleventh edition (1966) when a Postscript was added, but the main body of the book was left as it was. The decision of the publishers to present the book in a new form more in keeping with modern production methods thus offered fresh opportuniti es but also posed new problems. The pages of The STOry of Art, in its long carecr, have become familiar [Q a far greater number of people than I had ever thought possible. Even the majority of the twelve editions in other languages have been modelled on the original lay-our. It seemed to me wrong in the circumstances to omil passages and pictures which readers might want to look for. Nothing is morc irritating than ta discover lhat something onc expects to find in a book has been left OUl of the edition onc takes from the shelf. Thus, while I welcomed the chance of showing in larger iIlustraLions some of the works discussed and of adding some colour plates, 1 have eliminated nothing and only exchanged a very few examples for technical or other compelling reasons. The possibility, on the other hand, of adding ta the number of works to be discussed and illustrated presented bOlh an oppor- tunity to be seized and a tcmptation to be resisted. Clea rly to turn t.b.is volume into a heavy tome would have destroyed its character and defeated its purpose. In the end 1 decided to add fourteen examples which seemed to me not only interesting in themselves- which work of art is not ?- but to make a number of fresh points that enrich the texture of the argument. It is the argwneOl, after all, iliat makes this book a stary rather than an anthology. If it can again be read, and, J hope, enjoyed, without a distracting hunt for the pictures that go with tbe text, this is due to the hclp given in various ways by Mr Elwyn Blacker, Dr I. Grafe and Mr Keith Roberts. E. H .G . N01Jember 1971 Preface to the thirteenth edition T HERe ARE many morc illustrations in colour in this than in the twelfth edition, but the text (except for the bibliography) remains unchanged. The other new feature is the chronological chans on pp. 50}-9. Seeing the positions of a few landmarks in the vast panorama of history should help the reader to counteract the perspective illusion which gives such prominence to recent developments at the expense of the more distant past. In thus stimulating reflections on the time scales of the story of art, the chans should serve the same purpose for which I wrote this book some thirty years agO. Here I can still refer the reader to the opening words of the original Preface on the opposite page. E.li.G. Jllly 1977 Preface to the fourteenth edition 'BOOKS HA VE a life of their own.' The Roman poet who made this remark could not have imagined thal his lines would be copied out by hand for many centuries and would be available on the shelves of our libraries some twO thousand years later. By these standards this book is a youngster. Even so, in writing it, I could not have dreamt of its future life, which as far as th e English language editions are concerned, is now chronicled on the back of th e tille-page. Some of the changes the book has undergone arc mentioned in the Prefaces to the twelfth and thirteenth editions. These changes have been retained, but the section on an books has again been brought up to date. To keep in step \Vim technical developments and me altered expectations of the public many of the illustrations previously primed in black and white now appear in co lour. In addition I have added a Supplcmenl on 'New discoveries', with a brief retrospect on archaeologic'll finds (0 remind the reader of the extent to which the story of me past has always been subject to rev ision and unexpected enrichmcnc. E.H.G. March 1984 Preface TI-IIS BO OK is intended for all who feel in need of some fir st orientation in a Slmngc and fa scinating field. It may serve to show the newcomer the lie of the land withom confusing him with details; to enable him to bring some intelligible order into th e wealth of names, periods and styles which crowd me pages of more ambitious works, and so to equip him for consulting more specialized books. In writing it I thought first and foremost of readers in meir leens who had just discovered the world of art for themselves. But I never believed that books for young people should differ from books for adults except for the fact that they must reckon with the mos t exacting class of critics, critics who aTC quick to detect and resent any trace of pretentious jargon or bogus sentiment. I know from experience that these are the vices which may render people suspicious of all writing on art for the rest of their li ves. 1 have striven sincerely to avoid these pitfalls and to use plain language even at tbe risk of sounding casual or unprofessional. Difficulties of thought, on the other hand, I have not avoided, and so I hope that no reader will attribute my decision (0 gel along with a minimum of lhe art hi storian's conven- tional terms to any des ire on my part of 'talking down' to him.

Load more