Excerpt from A Text-Book of the History of Sculpture

The object of this volume is to provide students in schools and colleges with a concise survey of the history of sculpture, so that they may be able to comprehend intelligently the sculpture of the past and the present in the countries with which our own civilization has been and is most intimately connected. It has seemed unnecessary to treat of prehistoric sculpture in general; its connection with the flow of civilization is at present too remote and ill defined. Nor have we entered upon the history of Saracenic, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese sculpture, although all of these have had some influence on European art. The various phases of Oriental art are, from an historical standpoint, in great measure still a mystery to the Western world. This is equally true of the art of the semi-civilized nations whose influence once spread so widely upon our own hemisphere. That portion of the general history of sculpture which comes within our survey is itself imperfectly known. In some countries it has been easy to trace the general development of the art; in others, the lack of systematic scientific study still hides from us most important treasures.

The history of sculpture can be studied best with the assistance of casts and photographs. In the absence of the originals, these are preeminently the source upon which we must rely.

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