Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture is a two volume collection of general art history written by Frederick Hartt

Frederick Hartt

Frederick Hartt was an American professor of History of Art at the University of Virginia. His books include Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture and Italian Renaissance Art, Michelangelo , The Sistine Chapel and The Renaissance in Italy and Spain .Born in Boston,...

. Volume I goes from the paleolithic

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...

 cave paintings to late medieval art

Medieval art

The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa...

. Volume II starts at the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 and ends with modern art. It was originally published in 1976 by Harry N. Abrams. Incorporated, New York, with 1,271 illustrations, including 157 in full color and 28 with gold, 34 maps created especially for this work. Six timelines, 3 in each volume, relate important historical and cultural events to the arts of their period.