Two universal existential notions--temporal continuity and finitude determine--certain related compositional requirements in paintings, contends Brodsky (emeritus history of art, Westfield State College, Massachusetts), and investigates the third dimension--depth--as a competitive contact between the internal world of the painting and the external world of the viewer. He shows how the introduction of these factors brought a vital element to art both in the West and in the East, which he represents with Japan. The five essays explore Japanese defiance of the Chinese concept of unlimited space, The Virgin of Vladimir (early 12th century) and The Virgin of the Don (c. 1392) striving to particularize feeling, the changing meaning of the arch motive in Italian Renaissance art, contained emotion and the hostility of darkness in Rembrandt and the Baroque, and French impressionism as heir to the classical tradition and its encounter with Japanese "Pictures of the Floating World." The CiP data shows the author's name as Brodskii. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)