A Brief History of Painting

A Brief History of Painting. Roy Bolton. Robinson. [pounds sterling]9.99 p.n. xix + 300 pages. ISBN 1-84119-957-5. This latest number in the 'Brief History' series is an introduction to the history of painting. In eight chapters the author, who works at Christie's in London, traces the development of man's artistic endeavour from the ancient world to modernism and the state of painting today.

In between there are six chapters on the Italian renaissance, the renaissance in northern Europe, the seventeenth century, 'rococo to neo-classicism', the birth or the modern world (the Romantics to the Pre-Raphaelites, Goya and Millais), impressionists and post-impressionists (Monet to Cezanne). The illustrations are of a high quality and numerous. Mr Bolton begins each chapter with a summary of the most important and influential artists of the era to be discussed and relates their works to the history of the period. The chosen artists' lives are outlined and those of their paintings here reproduced are discussed. The author explains artistic terms and there is a useful chronology and list of suggestions for further reading. This is a good, solid introduction even if one does not share the author's appreciation of what nowadays passes for painting. (P.P.F.)

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