Universal History of World Painting

The history of painting, spanning thousands of years, is inseparable from the history of the development of civilization. Painting is an eternal quest for the perfect image of the elusive world, in which humanity reflects itself, with all its virtues and flaws. A monumental work by the world-renowned German art historian, professor of the history of art at the University of Breslau (Wrocław), and director of the State Graphic Collection in Munich, Richard Muther (1860-1909), who gathered truly colossal material on the history of the visual arts from around the world, offers an opportunity to relive the most exciting and memorable moments of humanity's eternal movement towards the ideal.
The book by Richard Muther, published in 1894, spread rapidly within a few months and caused a real public uproar. The verdict of the reading public was as follows: "Muther has driven the final nail into the coffin of dead academicism and conventional realism" (D.V. Philosophov). The book became a brilliant triumph that any scientific writer could wish for: it was recognized as the first work in which the searches of the innovators of the 19th century were duly appreciated. Muther's book is considered a turning point not only in the history of literature on art; it marks the beginning of a new history of the relationship to artistic creativity as a way of understanding and transforming the world.