ABSTRACT
There are comparatively few recent general books on European art or bibliographies, but the position has improved considerably since the last edition of this Handbook. The beginnings of art are studied in several books by the Abbe Breuil, one of the pioneers of the study of cave paintings, e.g. his Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art, and in G. Bataille's Prehistoric Painting, while the Pelican History of Art now has two volumes devoted to the subject, N. K. Sandars' Prehistoric Art in Europe and H. Frankfort's Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient. The catalogues of the National Gallery in London stand in a class by themselves. Modern art and history begin in Italy, and Vasari's pioneer Lives of the Most Eminent Painters is an indispensable source book for all Italian artists up to the mid-sixteenth century. .
