Journey Through Art History

A Brief History of World Art

• History is a construction and simplification, and any historical period is divided into units to make it clear.
• Prehistoric period refers to the time before written history and includes visual culture made before 3000 BCE.
• Ancient period includes the great early civilizations of the ancient Near East, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, the Etruscans, and the Romans.
• Middle Ages period witnessed terrible political and economic upheaval in Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire flourished, and Christianity spread across the Roman Empire.
• The Renaissance was a rebirth of interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture and a period of economic prosperity in Europe.
• The invention of the printing press increased literacy rates in Europe and empowered readers.
• The Protestant Reformation challenged the authority of the Church and laid the foundation for the value modern culture places on the individual.
• The Scientific Revolution replaced religious doctrine as the source of understanding of the universe and our place in it.
• The Early Modern period was a time of extended and often violent conflict between Catholics and Protestants, colonization, and the emergence of middle classes.
• Modern period saw the dominance of capitalism, the rise of global capitalism, and the struggle for human rights.
• Art has meant different things throughout the time periods and will be differently defined in the future.
• History of humanity is recorded in visual culture, and future art historians will seek to reconstruct the world we now live in to better understand the nuanced meanings that are so familiar to us.