Thompson, Kate: A handbook to the public picture galleries of Europe: with a brief sketch of the history of the various schools of painting, from the 13th century to the 18th inclusive (London: Macmillan and Co., 1880)

A

HANDBOOK
TO THE

@blic ^irtm Galleries of Europe.

OUTLINES OF A HISTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF
PAINTING IN ITALY.
In presenting a brief sketch of the history of Painting in
Europe, and of the chronology of artists in connection
therewith, it seems necessary at the outset to observe that,
although it has been frequently the custom to classify them
according to the century in which they were born, this
mode of treatment is a somewhat arbitrary one. For
example, an artist born towards the end of one century
may more properly belong to the next, as manifestly his
influence is not felt until the latter period. It may there-
fore often be found advisable to regard an artist, not as
belonging to the century of his birth, but to that in which
his works were first seen and known. Again, the works
of some artists belong equally to two centuries, the latter
part of one and the beginning of the following. Next, it
may be desirable to remind some readers that the Italian
mode of reckoning the century differs from our own.
Thus while the present century is for us the " nineteenth,"
the Italian names it the " eighteenth;" so that the
" Quattrocentisti" of the Italian writers are the masters,
not of the " fourteenth," but of our " fifteenth " century,
and the term " Cinquecento" indicates the style of the
" sixteenth " century according to our language.
Cl B

Intro-
ductory.

Term
" century.