Excerpt from The Philosophy of Painting: A Study of the Development of the Art, From Prehistoric to Modern Times
Paintings have been catalogued to death. There are enough histories of painting, such as they are; and as for dissertation and criticism, there is no end. It might seem presumptuous, therefore, to write anything further on a subject that has received so much attention from authors and scribblers alike. Perhaps it is. At all events, it has been done, and here it is. A long-winded apology could make it no better; and explanations would not excuse its defects. If it has any merits, they will take care of themselves.
With deference to a polite and tottering old custom, the author announces his purposes in writing the book; They were, first, to sketch the course and progress of the art in an easy perspective; second, to assemble some scattered material which is interesting and convenient to have in small compass; third, to give some results of his own reasoning, and playfully, as it were, to fly the kite of speculation from more or less solid ground; fourth, to hit some absurdities which have long been shameless bores; fifth, to correlate some relationships which reveal a tendency strong enough to be called a spirit; and sixth, to suggest
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Philosophy of Painting