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What Is Art History?

Author: Ian McConnell
Video Transcript
Attributions
  • Petrach | Author: Wikipedia | License: Public Domain
  • Pliny the Elder | Author: Wikipedia | License: Public Domain
  • Vasari | Author: Wikipedia | License: Public Domain
  • Winkelmann | Author: Wikipedia | License: Public domain
Terms to Know
Art History

The academic study of the history and development of the visual arts.

Giorgio Vasari

An architect and artist whose The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects was the most influential text of the Italian Renaissance.

Johann Winckelmann

An 18th century German scholar who was the first to propose that works of art be analyzed as the products of the culture and time in which they were produced.

Methods

The set of rules or philosophy that informs one's approach to understanding art history.

Pliny the Elder

A Roman author and natural historian who included some of the earliest recorded historical descriptions of works of art in his writings.