"Tradition and innovation: The later fifteenth century in Italy" "Tradition and innovation: The fifteenth century in the North" "Harmony attained: Tuscany and Rome, early sixteenth century" "Light and colour: Venice and northern Italy, early sixteenth century" "The new learning spreads: Germany and the Netherlands, early sixteenth century" "A crisis of art: Europe, later sixteenth century" "Vision and visions: Catholic Europe, first half of the seventeenth century" "The mirror of nature: Holland, seventeenth century" "Power and glory: Italy, later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries" "Power and glory: France, Germany and Austria, late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries" "The age of reason: England and France, eighteenth century" "The break in tradition: England, America, and France, late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries" "Permanent revolution: The nineteenth century" "In search of new standards: The late nineteenth century" "Experimental art: The first half of the twentieth century" "A story without end: The triumph of Modernism / An altered mood / The changing past" Each chapter discusses a selection of works from the defined period, and all of the works discussed are accompanied by illustrations. More than half of the book's pages are devoted to color photographs of paintings, drawings, architecture and sculptures. In the preface, Gombrich explains that it has been his intention not to mention any work of art that he could not also include as an illustration. Style The Story of Art is often described as a work that provides an accessible introduction to the subject of art history. Art historian T.S.R. Boase, in The Times Literary Supplement, observed that Gombrich “writes conversationally and intimately." Gombrich himself notes in the preface of the book that he intends to use “plain language” and to minimize “the art historian’s conventional terms." Reception First published by Phaidon Press in 1950 and in its 16th edition as of 2022, The Story of Art has been a global bestseller with more than 8 million copies sold and translated into more than 30 languages. It is included in Time magazine’s list of 100 best nonfiction books of all time. The first two sentences of the book have become famous: ″There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists.″ Gombrich later elaborated on this statement by saying that he defines "art" based on its Latin root, meaning "skill," and that there is "no disembodied skill." Upon its release, The Story of Art was noted for its pedagogical potential