“The beginning of the sixteenth century, the Cinquecento, is the most famous period of Italian art, one of the greatest periods of all time. This was the time of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, of Raphael and Titian, of Correggio and Giorgione, of Dürer and Holbein in the north, and of many other famous masters. One may well ask why it was that all these great masters were born in the same period, but such questions are more easily asked than answered. One cannot explain the existence of genius. It is better to enjoy it.”

—  Ernst Gombrich , book The Story of Art

Source: The Story of Art (1978), p. 217-218, as cited in: Molyneux, John. " Michelangelo and human emancipation http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=685&issue=128." Issue: 128, Posted: 14 October 2010.

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Ernst Gombrich 16
art historian 1909–2001

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