The Story of Art

By E. H. Gombrich. Read in July 2024.

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Painters made people believe in a nonrealistic depiction of horse movement (pic. 13 and 14).

Inuit dance mask (pic. 28).

Art in a tomb as a replacement for killed servants.

Akhenaten ("Эхнатон") and Tutankhamun period – for the first time the wife depicted of the same size as the king. Nefertiti was Akhenaten's wife.

Style is the set of internal rules.

Mesopotamia – the valley of two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Modern day area between Iran from the east and Syria and Iraq from the west.

Greek temples are more compact compared to Egyptian ones.

Great revolution: foot depicted from the front (pic. 49). Discus thrower by Myron as a rethinking of Egyptian poses.

Hercules, Atlas, and the golden apples of Hesperides nymphs.

Temple of Acropolis was colored with red and blue paint.

Chapters 5 - 6

Servants help to silence the steps of Prince Gautama's horse.

Emperor Constantine established Christian Church as a power in the State in 311 AD.

Word "Mass" – where does it come from?

Basilicas were not originally related to religion and used for markets and law courts.

Divide between Western (Latin) and Eastern parts of Roman Empire around the images of Christ in churches. All were against of statues as they reminded of paganism. Latin part argued that images are needed because most people can't read. Eastern parts were Iconoclasts and did not want any images at all.

Christ feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes (pic. 87).

Thought: how would the world look if instead relying on pictures, Christian Church would've help to educate people in reading?