Whether in the East or West, whether made
by anonymous monks, such as the 7th century Book of Durrow (evidently Bernard Berenson consigned the illuminations to tattoo - craft or simply savage, and even the great John Ruskin has written that «only great art could exist in Western
civilization»), or
by a so - called self - taught artist such as James Castle, or through certified commissioned works as in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and Rothko's de Menil chapel, all were aware of their mortalities and were therefore in
touch with their potentials, in spite of reward or consequence.
Humanity now holds on in the form of primitive upstart
civilizations that have lost
touch with the past's knowledge, while much of the world is dominated
by autonomous animal - shaped robots.