The History of Western Art Quotes

“the Renaissance can be seen as the rediscovery of the individual, as superseding the medieval religious view of man as a corrupt, sinful and helpless creature.”
― Peter Whitfield, The History of Western Art

“Pico argued that, unlike all the rest of creation, mankind has been assigned no fixed role by God, but is free to create its own identity and its own future, even aspiring to divinity itself.”
― Peter Whitfield, The History of Western Art

“For a thousand years this stance would remain central to the art which emerged in the service of Christianity. It is interesting to note too that science, the philosophy of nature pursued by the Greeks, was also allowed to wither in the early Christian era.”
― Peter Whitfield, The History of Western Art

“Visual reality is the starting point, but beneath this the true intention is the poetic vision. These twin poles – the encounter with reality and the imaginative transformation of reality – are the two opposing poles around which all artistic endeavour has been concentrated for thousands of years.”
― Peter Whitfield, The History of Western Art

“envisage the artist as a focal point in a three-way interplay between the individual soul, the outer physical world of nature, and the collective belief system of his society.”
― Peter Whitfield, The History of Western Art