Includes bibliographical references (pages 1164-1177) and index.

The subjects of vocabulary of art history -- The birth of art: Africa, Europe, and the Near East in the Stone Age -- The rise of civilization: the art of the ancient Near East -- Pharaohs and the afterlife: the art of ancient Egypt -- Minos and the heroes of Homer: the art of the prehistoric Aegean -- Gods, heroes, and athletes: the art of ancient Greece -- Paths to enlightenment: the ancient art of south and Southeast Asia -- Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism: the art of early China and Korea -- Sacred statues and secular scrolls: the art of early Japan -- Italy before the Romans: the art of the Etruscans -- From seven hills to three continents: the art of ancient Rome -- Pagans, Christians, and Jews: the art of late antiquity -- Rome in the East: the art of Byzantium -- Muhammad and the Muslims: Islamic art -- From Alaska to the Andes: the arts of ancient America -- South of the Sahara: early African art -- Europe after the fall of Rome: early medieval art in the west -- The age of pilgrims and crusaders: Romanesque art -- The age of the great cathedrals: Gothic art -- From Gothic to Renaissance: the fourteenth century in Italy -- Of piety, passion, and politics: fifteenth-century Italian art -- Beauty, science, and spirit in Italian art: the high Renaissance and mannerism -- The age of Reformation: sixteenth-century art in northern Europe and Spain --Op popes, peasants, monarchs, and merchants: baroque and rococo art -- Religious change and colonial rule: The later art of south and southeast Asia -- Incursion, restoration, and transformation: the art of later China and Korea -- From the Shoguns to the present: the art of Later Japan -- The enlightenment and its legacy: neoclassicism through the mid-nineteenth century -- The rise of modernism: the later nineteenth century -- Before and after the Conquistadors: native arts of the Americas after 1000 -- Elders, "big men," chiefs and kings: the arts of Oceania --Exploration, colonization, and independence: later African art -- The triumph of modernist art: the early twentieth century -- The emergence of postmodernism: the later twentieth century.