Alas, Time stays, we go. The Paradox of Time . Nothing causes more melancholy in me than the passing of time. It is in such formal disagreement with my feelings, with my sense of identity, that it is the very source of my poetry. Time is the substance from which I am made.
Time is the only critic without ambition.
We are always acting on what has just finished happening. We think we're in the present, but we aren't. The present we know is only a movie of the past. There are several nice images here and brief articles on a few major artists, media, and styles. Art History Time Line has images and links to numerous civilizations before 1900, including those of ancient Egypt, China, India, Greece, Rome, Japan, Mesoamerica, etc.