This book, the first in Moshe Barasch's series on art theory, offers a comprehensive analysis and reassessment of major trends in European art theory and its development from the time of Plato to the early eighteenth century. Barasch expertly guides the reader from the interwoven attitudes and traditions of antiquity, through the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and the aesthetic values of the Middle Ages, to the branching out of several disciplines--art history, art criticism, abstract aesthetics--in the late Renaissance. Clearly outlining the development of art theory and exploring the central issues of each historical period, Theories of Art is a valuable resource for the art historian as well as a stimulating introduction for the general reader.

Moshe Barasch is Jack Cotton Professor of Architecture and Fine Arts at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of numerous books on art, including The Languageof Art: Studies in Interpretation (1997) and Icon:Studies in the History of an Idea (1995).

Introduction; I. Antiquity; 1. Introduction; 2. The Philosophers; 3. Teachings of the Workshops; 4. The Problem of the Artist; 5. Plotinus; II. The Middle Ages; 1. Iconoclasm; 2. The Early Middle Ages: The West; 3. Workshop Literature; 4. Aesthetic Values in the Late Middle Ages; 5. Scholasticism; III. The Early Renaissance; 1. The Imitation of Nature: A Concept Emerges; 2. Alberti: The Birth of a New Theory of Art; 3. Correct Imitation: Art and Science; 4. Anatomy; 5. Leonardo da Vinci; 6. Durer; 7. Formal Correctness: Perspective; IV. The Artist and the Medium: Some Facets of the High Renaissance; 1. Paragone; 2. Rise of the Creative Artist; 3. Michelangelo; V. The Late Renaissance; 1. New Authors and New Readers; 2. Florence and Rome; 3. Venice; 4. Northern Italy; 5. Rebelling Against the Rules: The Last Phase of Renaissance ARt Theory; VI. Classicism and the Academy; 1. Foundations; 2. The Academy in Paris: Rule of Rules; 3. The Crisis of the Academy; Bibliographical Essay; Index