BOOKS RECOMMENDED: As before, Burckhardt, Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Eastlake, Lafenestre, Lanzi, Lindsay, Reber; also Burton, _Catalogue of Pictures in the National Gallery, London_ (_unabridged edition_); Cartier, _Vie de Fra Angelico_; Foerster, _Leben und Werke des Fra Angelico_; Habich, _Vade Mecum pour la Peinture Italienne des Anciens Maitres_; Lacroix, _Les Arts au Moyen-Age et a la Epoque de la Renaissance_; Mantz, _Les Chefs-d'oeuvre de la Peinture Italienne_; Morelli, _Italian Masters in German Galleries_; Morelli, _Italian Masters, Critical Studies in their Works_; Rumohr, _Italienische Forschungen_; Selincourt, _Giotto_; Stillman, _Old Italian Masters_; Vasari, _Lives of the Most Eminent Painters_; consult also General Bibliography (p. xv). SIGNS OF THE AWAKENING: It would seem at first as though nothing but self-destruction could come to that struggling, praying, throat-cutting population that terrorized Italy during the Mediaeval Period. The people were ignorant, the rulers treacherous, the passions strong, and yet out of the Dark Ages came light. In the thirteenth century the light grew brighter, but the internal dissensions did not cease. The Hohenstaufen power was broken, the imperial rule in Italy was crushed. Pope and emperor no longer warred each other, but the cries of "Guelf" and "Ghibelline" had not died out. Throughout the entire Romanesque and Gothic periods (1000-1400) Italy was torn by political wars, though the free cities, through their leagues of protection and their commerce, were prosperous. A commercial rivalry sprang up among the cities. Trade with the East, manufactures, banking, all flourished; and even the philosophies, with law, science, and literature, began to be studied. The spirit of learning showed itself in the founding of schools and universities. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, reflecting respectively religion, classic learning, and the inclination toward nature, lived and gave indication of the trend of thought. Finally the arts, architecture, sculpture, painting, began to stir and take upon themselves new appearances. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In painting, though there were some portraits and allegorical scenes produced during the Gothic period, the chief theme was Bible story. The Church was the patron, and art was only the servant, as it had been from the beginning. It was the instructor and consoler of the faithful, a means whereby the Church made converts, and an adornment of wall and altar. It had not entirely escaped from symbolism. It was still the portrayal of things for what they meant, rather than for what they looked. There was no such thing then as art for art's sake. It was art for religion's sake.