
(Circa 1,650,000 BCE –
100,000 BCE)
Art Timeline Outline
2,500,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE

(Circa 400,000 BCE –
350,000 BCE)

(Circa 132,000 BCE –
98,000 BCE)

(Circa 100,000 BCE)

(Circa 75,000 BCE –
73,000 BCE)

(Circa 38,000 BCE –
33,000 BCE)
" />
(Circa 37,000 BCE)

(Circa 33,000 BCE)

(Circa 32,000 BCE –
30,000 BCE)

(Circa 30,000 BCE)

(29,000 BCE –
25,000 BCE)

(25,000 BCE)

(Circa 24,000 BCE –
22,000 BCE)

(Circa 23,000 BCE)

(Circa 18,000 BCE)

(Circa 12,000 BCE)

(Circa 11,000 BCE)

(Circa 11,000 BCE)

(Circa 10,500 BCE)

(Circa 9,500 BCE)
8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

(Circa 6,200 BCE)
Bos primigenius (auroch)." />
(Circa 6,000 BCE)
The Earliest Precursors to Writing in Egypt are Rock Drawings
(Circa 3,750 BCE)

(Circa 3,500 BCE –
3,350 BCE)

(Circa 3,200 BCE –
3,000 BCE)

(Circa 2,000 BCE –
1,700 BCE)

(Circa 1,450 BCE)

(Circa 1,292 BCE –
1,069 BCE)

(Circa 1,200 BCE –
1,045 BCE)
1,000 BCE – 300 BCE

(Circa 1,000 BCE)
A Pulley Depicted in a Bas-Relief from Nimrud, Assyria
(Circa 800 BCE)

(440 BCE –
435 BCE)

(Circa 400 BCE)
300 BCE – 30 CE

(215 BCE –
210 BCE)
The Oldest Sculptural Group Found in France
(Circa 25 CE)
30 CE – 500 CE

(Circa 75 CE)

(Circa 100 CE –
200 CE)

(Circa 150 CE)
A Sarcophagus Showing a Greek Physician in His Library
(Circa 320 CE)

(Circa 350 CE)

(Circa 400 CE)

(Circa 400 CE)
A Diptych Depicting Roman Orators Holding Papyrus Rolls
(Circa 400 CE)
The Earliest Image of Codices in a Book Cabinet and Possibly the Earliest Image of a Bookbinding in Wall Art
(426 CE –
450 CE)
The Earliest Treasure Bookcovers Made of Ivory
(Circa 450 CE)

(493 CE –
508)
500 CE – 600
How the Middle Ages Processed and Recycled Roman Culture
(Circa 524 –
1300)

(Circa 550)

(Circa 580 –
620)

(Circa 585)
600 – 700

(Circa 600)
700 – 800

(715 –
720)
800 – 900

(Circa 800)
Charlemagne Renews Book and Library Culture
(800 –
877)

(Circa 810)

(Circa 816 –
841)

(Circa 816 –
850)

(Circa 820 –
830)
The Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram
(Circa 870)
900 – 1000

(June 19, 960)
1000 – 1100

(1012 –
1021)
1100 – 1200

(Circa 1170)
Limoges Enamel Book Cover Plaque
(Circa 1185 –
1210)
1200 – 1300

(Circa 1200)

(Circa 1230 –
1275)
1300 – 1400
Ivory Booklet with Scenes of the Passion
(Circa 1300 –
1320)

(Circa 1303 –
1316)
1400 – 1450

(Circa 1413 –
1416)

(1427 –
1479)
1450 – 1500

(April 4, 1452 –
July 9, 1453)

(Circa 1465 –
1475)
Three Ways that Printing Changed Manuscript Culture
(Circa 1470)
Leonardo's Anatomical Drawings
(Circa 1485 –
1516)
An Early Depiction of a Child Wrecking a Book
(Circa 1485)
The First Illustrated Travel Book: An International Bestseller
(February 11, 1486)
Discovery of a Lost Painting by Michelangelo?
(1487 –
1488)
The Most Complete Pattern Book from Medieval Britain
(Circa 1490)
The Nuremberg Chronicle
(June 12 –
December 23, 1493)
The "Book Fool"
(February 11, 1494)
The Persistence of Illuminated Manuscript Production
(Circa 1499)
The First Illustration of a Printing Office & Bookshop in a Printed Book
(February 18, 1499)
1500 – 1550

(September 13, 1501 –
September 8, 1504)
Collecting Books and Prints in the Early Sixteenth Century
(Circa 1510 –
1539)
Portrait of a Elegant Young Man Mishandling a Book
(Circa 1535)
A Condensation or Road-Map to the Fabrica
(June 1543)
1550 – 1600
Construction of the Ufizzi
(1560 –
1581)
Classic of Mannerist Book Illustration and Printing
(June 28, 1560)
1600 – 1650
At Attempt to Record All Human Knowledge in Visual Form
(Circa 1625 –
1665)
Mezzotint Invented
(1642)
1650 – 1700
1700 – 1750
The Three Primary Colors
(1708)
Invention of Color Printing
(1719)
The First Use of Full Color Printing by the Three-Color Process in a Medical or Scientific Book
(1736 –
1741)
Foundation of the Greatest Museums of Florence
(February 18, 1743)
1750 – 1800
The First Contemporary Art Exhibition
(April 21, 1760)
Invention of Steel Engraving
(Circa 1792 –
1819)
Invention of Lithography
(1796 –
1800)
1800 – 1850
Lithography by Zinc Plates
(1803)
The First Book Printed Entirely by Lithography
(1808 –
1817)
The First "Livre d'Artiste"
(1828)
Daguerreotypes: The First Commonly Used Photographic Process
(January 7 –
August 19, 1839)
The First Separate Publication on Photography
(January 31, 1839)
The First Illustrated News Publication
(May 12, 1842)
1850 – 1875
The First Relief Half-Tone
(1854)
Foundation of the National Portrait Gallery
(December 2, 1856)
1900 – 1910
Revealing a Hidden Image in a Newspaper Article
(1901 –
October 24, 2012)
1910 – 1920
"Ridgway Colors"
(1912)
The Armory Show Introduces "Modern Art" to the United States
(February 17 –
March 15, 1913)
1920 – 1930
Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamum
(November 4, 1922)
1930 – 1940
Origins of the X-Planes and the Space Shuttle
(1933 –
1944)
1940 – 1950
The Hinman Collator
(1945 –
1949)
1950 – 1960
The Earliest Pioneer in Electronic Art
(1950 –
1953)
1960 – 1970
The Earliest Public Exhibitions of Computer Art
(February 5 –
November 26, 1965)
The Museum Computer Network
(1967)
The First Widely-Attended International Exhibition of Computer Art
(August 2 –
October 20, 1968)
The First Monograph by a Computer Artist
(December 1968)
1970 – 1980
UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970
(November 14, 1970)
The Fractal Geometry of Nature
(1975 –
1982)
Vol Libri: The First Fractal CGI Movie
(1979 –
1980)
1980 – 1990
The 1970 UNESCO Convention is Implemented in U.S. Law
(January 1983)
1990 – 2000
Encoded Sculpture
(November 3, 1990)
The Book and Beyond
(April 7 –
October 1, 1995)
The First Full-Time Online Webcam Girl
(April 1996 –
2003)
Rome Reborn on Google Earth
(1997)
Digital Scriptorium
(November 1997)
2000 – 2005
Grand Text Auto
(May 2003 –
May 2009)
2005 – 2010
Pixar at MOMA
(December 14, 2005)
The "Print Clock" Method
(June 20, 2006)
The World's Oldest Oil Paintings Restored After Taliban Dynamite
(February 19, 2008)
Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch Restored 450 Years after it was Nearly Destroyed
(October 30, 2008)
A Virtual Exhibition . . .
(November 18, 2008)
Probably the Most Expensive Single Volume Printed Edition Ever Published
(December 2, 2008)
The BBC Intends to Place 200,000 Oil Paintings on the Internet
(January 28, 2009)
Discovery of a Previously Unknown Self- Portrait of Leonardo
(February 28, 2009)
The First Magazine Cover Created as iPhone Art
(June 1, 2009)
Discovery of Unknown Portrait by Leonardo Confirmed by a Fingerprint
(October 13, 2009)
The Finest Roman Cameo Glass Vase Discovered
(October 13, 2009)
David Hockney's iPhone Art
(October 22, 2009)
2010 – 2011
The First Superman Comic Book sells for $1,000,000.
(February 22, 2010)
The Most Successful Art Forger Ever
(May 12 –
August 22, 2010)
2011 – 2013
The Google Art Project
(February 1, 2011)
The Saint John's Bible is Completed
(May 2011)
Leonardo's Lost Painting, Salvator Mundi, Discovered
(July 10, 2011)
Using a Densitometer to Measure Usage of Medieval Books of Hours
(April 23, 2012)
2013 – Present
Titian's Portrait of Girolamo Fracastoro is Rediscovered
(January 7, 2013)

































" />