Abstract

E. H. Gombrich considers that a breakdown of classical standards occurred in the late Roman period which paved the way for medieval styles. At that time the Greek Revolution had ended and “a reversal of taste toward earlier modes of art and an admiration of the mysterious shapes of the Egyptian tradition” began. It seems to Gombrich that a new “revolution” did not take place until the dawn of the Renaissance, when artists resumed the effort to “conquer the appearance.”