Art History Basics
Various
Explore ancient and classical art! This course covers essential art history, from early civilizations to iconic masterpieces.
More resources on Ancient & Classical Art
smarthistory.org
Smarthistory.org provides free, student-friendly art history resources through expert-led short videos and concise essays that analyze major artworks, movements, and cultural contexts from around the world. It features visual analyses, contextual histories, and thematic comparisons suitable for students and educators.
Perseus Digital Library
Tufts University's Perseus Digital Library, a long-running collection of Greek and Latin texts with translations, plus catalogued images of ancient art, coins, sculpture, and archaeological sites. Learners can study classical artworks alongside the primary sources describing them.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline
The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline pairs objects from the museum's collection with essays organized by region and period, from 8000 B.C. onward. Readers come away able to place a work geographically and chronologically and to see cross-cultural contemporaries.
Greek Art
John Boardman's World of Art survey of Greek art from the Geometric period through the Hellenistic age, covering vase painting, sculpture, architecture and minor arts, so readers can date styles and recognize how Greek artistic conventions developed.
Roman Art
Nancy and Andrew Ramage's illustrated survey of Roman art from its Etruscan forerunners to Constantine, covering sculpture, painting, architecture and minor arts, with the historical, religious and political background needed to read them; no prior classics knowledge assumed.