From traditional fallacies to structural hypotheses: Old and new conceptions in period style research

Conclusion

The unsatisfactory quality of the period style work carried out in the past by exceptionally gifted scholars suggests that work on the relationship between the arts suffers from defects of a methodological nature. The weaknesses of the traditional methods are easier to point out than the advantages of any new method, which of necessity has yet to prove itself — but new methods must be tested if progress is to be made. The validity of a structural approach to period style will only be ultimately demonstrated (or discredited) by a full-length study of a period style following this method.