Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/18

 Xll INTRODUCTION. this purpose, except after going through some portion at least of the training of a practical artist. Few, if any, can thoroughly appreciate an artistic rendering of outline, of colour, or of form, without some skill in drawing, colour- ing, or modelling. A great deal, however, remains to be known about works of art which can be learned from books, which those who cannot draw a line may most usefully learn, and of which even those who practise some branch of the fine arts with great success are often ignorant. It is the object of this little volume to convey an outline of so much of this knowledge as can be com- prised under the form of a History. Perhaps the best starting-point for the study of all, or any of the fine arts, is their history. In the case of each country where art has been cultivated, we have a simple commencement, a gradual growth, a culminating point, and a decline ; and it is while endeavouring to understand the course which was run by any one art, or any one school of artists, that we can best acquire a knowledge of the principles as well as the practice of the art or school in question. Such a knowledge also enables the student to appreciate at their due value the works of any individual artist which may meet, and to assign to them their true position. At a time, then, when some knowledge of pictures and architecture, of statues and of music, is becoming indispensable to those who desire to share in the culture of the day — when the architecture of public and private buildings is constantly attracting attention — when the galleries of this country are being thrown open to the public — and when many thousands of our countrymen