Excerpt from Elementary History of Art: An Introduction to Ancient and Modern Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Music<br><br>With art the case is different. It is a revival and not a fresh growth which we are witnessing. Without disparaging the artists of the present century, it is in disputable that, with the exception of music and to some extent of landscape, they have in no case carried the arts so far as they had already advanced at earlier periods of their history. The arts have revived because a time of prolonged peace and the accumulation of great wealth have given to many of the rich the leisure and means to surround themselves with objects of re finement and luxury; while the marvellous Spread of illustrated publications, and the increased facilities for travelling and observing the buildings and pictures with which the older countries of Europe teem, have tended to rouse among all ranks of the community an interest in works Of art. The present movement is essentially a popular one. It is not headed, like the scientific movement, by the foremost men of the day, with all their acuteness and knowledge stimulated to the full. It has rather taken its rise among those who are but ill-informed on artistic subjects, and therefore stand peculiarly in need of guidance and instruction. Nothing could consequently be more appropriate to the wants of the day than the publication of works.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.