The Story of Art

A classic study of image-making, this text seeks to answer a simple question: why is there such a thing as style? Professor Gombrich's exploration of the history and psychology of pictorial representation leads him to examine, question and re-evaluate old and new ideas.

From our paleolithic past, every continent and culture is covered in an articulate and well-balanced discussion, in this art historical tour de force. 1458 images, together with numerous maps and architectural plans, have been chosen to represent significant chronological, regional and individual styles of artistic expression.

Part of a four volume set of books which focus on and analyse the art of the Renaissance. This volume deals with some of the most fundamental questions of style, patronage, working methods, taste and theories of art during this period.

Through character sketches and anecdotes the author depicts Piero di Cosimo shut away in his derelict house, living only to paint, and Giulio Romano's startling painting of Jove striking down the giants.

The painter and architect Giorgio Vasari was a pupil of Michelangelo's who worked mainly in Florence and Rome, but he is more famous for his Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects . This is the second volume of his work, translated by Gaston de Vere.

A new anthology features eight of the most notable artists from Vasari's immense work: Giotto, Masaccio, Fra Filippo, Lippi, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Titian.

This collection of essays on the psychology of pictorial representation forms a companion volume to Art and Illusion . Topics covered include the problems of perspective, the representation of movement, expression, gesture and action, and the role of visual images in communication.

Groundbreaking when first published in 1969, this book is now of even greater relevance to make the reader aware of the need to educate the visual sense.

Since its publication fifty years ago, this work has established itself as a classic. It casts the visual process in psychological terms and describes the creative way one's eye organizes visual material according to specific psychological premises. In 1974 this book was revised and expanded, and since then it has continued to burnish Rudolf Arnheim's reputation as a groundbreaking theoretician ..