Postage stamp dedicated to Vincent van Gogh. popovaphoto/iStock via Getty Images On the Tips of One's Fingers As a teenager, I attended a classical high school in downtown Florence, and like all my classmates, I focused on the subjects that counted toward the final exam, while I ignored art history, which had no bearing on my final grade. My lack of interest in art was partly due to the fact that ...
Postage stamp dedicated to Vincent van Gogh. popovaphoto/iStock via Getty Images On the Tips of One's Fingers As a teenager, I attended a classical high school in downtown Florence, and like all my classmates, I focused on the subjects that counted toward the final exam, while I ignored art history, which had no bearing on my final grade. My lack of interest in art was partly due to the fact that our teacher, nicknamed Boo Boo, didn't exactly command much respect, as you can infer. Many years later, when life led me to work for a company that published art books, I tried to make up for lost time by studying what I had avoided in high school. It was then that I happened to meet an expert in the field, who explained to me how art history from his point of view-contrary to popular belief-is extremely simple. According to him, there are five artists who shaped it: Giotto, Masaccio, Pontormo, Caravaggio, and Van Gogh. Four Italians and one Dutchman, with Pontormo even included among the key figures to be counted on the tips of one's fingers. All others, by contrast, are pupils, followers, or imitators-each possessing a measure of originality and talent-but nonetheless travelers along the path charted by these five supreme artists. That is, according to my expert, they all in some way reflected, to the point of exhaustion, the light emanating from the five masters. Viewed in this way, the history of art became a straightforward and easily comprehensible path, parallel to the historical, literary, and philosophical evolution of European civilization. It is an almost predictable path, traced by the five masters, into which all the themes and schools that have developed over the centuries, up to the present day, have gradually been framed. Simple, but not Simpler At first, I found his argument disconcerting, because it reduces art history to a subject that can be explained in five minutes, without beating around the bush. Now, our minds are often reluctant to accept such sim...