The major transformations in the philosophy of history and in aesthetics in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Germany played an important part in the development of the subsequent historiography of art. This is the first extensive critical account of the work of the figures of that era who made the fundamental contributions to the field - Semper, Riegel, Wolfflin, Warburg, and Panofsky. A perceptive and fascinating introduction for the student of history and aesthetics.