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Art history encompasses the study of the history and development of painting, sculpture, and the other visual arts. Art History: A Very Short Introduction considers the issues, debates, and artefacts that make up art history. It explores the emergence of social histories of art and, using a wide range of images, it discusses key aspects of the discipline including how we write about, present, read, and look at art, and the impact this has on our understanding of art history. This second edition includes a new chapter on global art histories, considering how the traditional emphasis on periods and styles in art originated in Western art and can obscure other critical approaches and artwork from non-Western cultures.

In the opening years of the nineteenth century several new bridges were planned and built to improve communications across the Thames, and in response to the westward growth of London and demographic changes north of the river. The rebuilding of London Bridge has a special place in this sequence. Old London Bridge was one of a small number of buildings, monuments and institutions which encapsulated the identity of London. It had been the only link between the city and the south bank of the Thames for over 1,700 years. Its history as a focal point of the national road network, such as it was in the pre-modern era, had earned the bridge a certain fame and it was one of the sights of Britain, if not Europe. Its imposing presence to those arriving by road or river served to reinforce the centrality of London to the nation as a whole whilst it acted as a physical barrier to the city and a symbol of civic order and authority. The decision to rebuild London Bridge in the early nineteenth century brought with it all this historical baggage. The importance of London Bridge and its function as a potent symbol was not forgotten but the nature of the state and metropolis that it signified had changed considerably. This symbolic nature of the bridge is further vivified by the fusion of bridges and monuments in contemporary architectural practice. Taking a lead from Renaissance and antique models the monumental bridge design was a standard part of architectural training. This is brought into sharp focus with the competition to redesign the bridge because the construction of another symbol of urban and national supremacy coincided with the general scheme of the Metropolitan Improvements. 1 The new bridge endured as a symbol of the modern metropolis well into the twentieth century. Improvements to the bridge approaches in the 1890s prompted the complete erosion of the remains of Tudor London in the interests of the ever-expanding heart of the Empire. And the image evoked by the very name London Bridge ensured its survival to the present day. The current pre-stressed concrete structure was built in the late 1960s 2 and the rather plain, functional Regency 3 bridge was re-erected in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it stands as an isolated icon of London.The long and complex histories of London Bridge raise interesting questions about the relationship between the symbolic and functional roles of buildings.A bridge can be a monument, a signifier of social or political pre-eminence, a national symbol or just a stretch of road that happens to pass over water.

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Dana Arnold is Professor of Architectural History at the University of Southampton, UK. She was editor of Art History from 1997 to 2002 and edits the book series New Interventions in Art History; Companions to Art History; and Anthologies in Art History, all published by Wiley‐Blackwell. Her recent monographs include: Rural Urbanism: London Landscapes in the Early Nineteenth Century (2006); Reading Architectural History (2002); Re‐presenting the Metropolis: Architecture, Urban Experience and Social Life in London 1800–1840 (2000). Her edited and co‐edited volumes include: Biographies and Space (2007); Rethinking Architectural Historiography (2006); Architecture as Experience (2004); Cultural Identities and the Aesthetics of Britishness (2004); Tracing Architecture: The Aesthetics of Antiquarianism (2003); Art and Thought (2003). She is the author of the bestselling Art History: A Very Short Introduction (2004) which has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Japanese and Spanish and has been reprinted several times. Her monograph on the Spaces of the Hospital is forthcoming from Routledge. Professor Arnold has held research fellowships at Yale University, the University of Cambridge and the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles and has held numerous visiting Professorships. She was a member of the Research Panel for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and now sits on the Advisory Board of the joint Engineering and Physical Sciences/AHRC initiative Science and Heritage.