Rich collisions and fresh perspectives illuminate the profound continuities of thought and practice that have marked Western art This groundbreaking study explores the deep connections between modern and premodern art, offering a radical reading that reveals the underlying patterns and ideas traversing centuries of artistic practice. Nagel reconsiders from an innovative double perspective some key issues in the history of art, from iconoclasm and illusionism to the status of painting, installation and the museum as institution. He examines, among other topics, why the medieval workshop was of such importance to the Bauhaus