Spirited Prospect: A Portable History of Western Art from the Paleolithic to the Modern Era is a lively, scholarly survey of the great artists, works, and movements that make up the history of Western art.

Within the text, important questions are addressed: What is art, and who is an artist? What is the West, and what is the Canon? Is the Western Canon closed or exclusionary? Why is it more important than ever for individuals to engage and understand it?

Readers are escorted on a concise, chronological tour of Western visual culture, beginning with the first art produced before written history. They learn about the great ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Italy; the advent of Christianity and its manifestations in Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art; and the fragmentation of old traditions and the proliferation of new artistic choices that characterize the Enlightenment and the Modern Era.

The revised second edition features improved formatting, juxtaposition, sizing, and spacing of images throughout.

Spirited Prospect is an ideal textbook for introductory courses in the history of art, as well as courses in studio art and Western civilization at all levels.
David D. Nolta holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University. Dr. Nolta is a professor and the chair of the History of Art Department at MassArt. He has won many awards, including Fulbright and Kress fellowships and residencies at The Huntington Library and Harvard University.
Charles A. Stigliano holds an M.F.A. in sculpture from The University of North Carolina. He is a professor in the Fine Arts 3D Department at MassArt. Professor Stigliano has exhibited a range of works, from marionettes to monumental figure sculptures, at venues across the U.S., and his work can be found in numerous public and private collections.