Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
GIOTTO: DORMITION OF THE VIRGIN
Berlin
A HISTORY OF
ITALIAN PAINTING
PREFACE
This book has grown out of lectures which were delivered atthe Cleveland Art Museum in 1919–20. There I had idealhearers, beginners who wanted to learn and were willing tofollow a serious discussion. Since I aim at the same sort of areader now, I have only slightly retouched and amplified theoriginal manuscript. This is frankly a beginner’s book. I havehad to omit whatever might confuse the novice, including manypainters inherently delightful. Controversial problems for thesame reason have been when possible avoided. When, however,I have had to cope with such, I have depended more on myown eyes and judgment than on the written words of others.But the latest literature has also been used, so that even theadept should here and there find something to his purpose.
For opinions on contested points, I have given my authorityor personal reason in notes, which, in order not to clutter upthe text, are printed at the end. By the same token, hints onreading and private study are tucked away in the last pageswhere they will not bother readers who do not need or wantthem. While I hope the book will be welcome in the classroom,I have had as much in mind the intelligent traveller inEurope and the private student. Throughout I have hadbefore me the kind of introduction to Italian painting thatwould have been helpful to me thirty years ago in those daysof bewildered enthusiasm