The persisting events that art history chronicles are visual and tangible objects made by human hands. These can be classified under architecture, sculpture, the pictorial arts, and the craft arts. Just as history in general seeks to understand the past through its documented events, so the history of art seeks to understand it through works of art. Ultimately, art history seeks to arrive at not only as complete a picture as possible of art as it changes in time but also an explanation of those changes. Only when the context of a work of art is known can we go beyond an appreciation of its formal qualities and begin to analyze its place in the history of art-to trace the evolution of art through the ages.

-Credit to Gardner's Art Through the Ages 12th Edition by Fred S. Kleiner