Spirited Prospect: A Portable History of Western Art from the Paleolithic to the Modern Era

"Spirited Prospect is a lively, scholarly, original and enjoyable survey of the great artists, works, and movements that make up the history of Western art. The book serves as an excellent introduction for first-time students and novices in the field, as well as an invaluable resource for those returning to it. It is especially aimed at artists and art-lovers.

Co-authored by two university professors, an art historian and a sculptor, Spirited Prospect is an engaging narrative linking major monuments and masterpieces of Western visual culture. Readers will learn about the origins of art before written history; the great ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Italy; the advent of Christianity and its manifestations in Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque art; the fragmentation of old traditions and the proliferation of new artistic choices that characterize the Modern Era. Spirited Prospect is at once sweeping and selective, thoughtful and enlightening, and a wonderful read.

Filled with illustrations and insightful interpretations, Spirited Prospect is ideal for survey courses in the history of art, studio art foundation courses, and courses in Western civilization.

David D. Nolta holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University. Dr. Nolta teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He has won many awards, including Fulbright and Kress fellowships and residencies at Windsor Castle, The Huntington Library, and Harvard University. A poet and novelist as well as a scholar, he has been featured on Dateline and The Today Show.

Charles Stigliano holds an M.F.A. in sculpture from The University of North Carolina; he, too, teaches at MassArt. An indefatigable draughtsman and woodcarver, Professor Stigliano has exhibited a range of works, from marionettes to monumental figure sculptures, at venues across the US. He has completed commissioned pieces for many public and private collections."