To appreciate the evolution of art it is necessary to consider the early social conditions.
The primitive life was insular and nomadic, the family or tribe staying in any locality only so long as food was available for themselves and herds; such communities were necessarily pastoral and predatory.
The simple requirements under these conditions would be vessels for storage, conveyance, or cooking, probably pottery; weapons, and doubtless jewellery or objects of personal adornment.
Later by necessity and under favourable conditions they would develop agriculture, which would result in fixity of abode; and this would entail precautionary measures for protection from predatory tribes.
The original camp or stockade for this purpose in time led to the fortress or castle for the protection of the town, and the more substantial nature of these gave rise to architecture.
With comparative security more pacific conditions would prevail, and the simple communal life develop into more complex social distinctions.
The military class established for protective reasons would be dependent upon the general community for their upkeep, thus imposing taxation on the various workers, and necessitating a system of government and of officials for effective collection and distribution. Social distinctions would be drawn between the various classes, governing, administrative, military, and non-combatant; the latter would furnish the bulk of the workers and be further divided into craftsmen, agriculturists and traders.
In process of time from the executive class would develop the nobility, priestly and legal classes.
Art was originally local, that is, confined to the community, but later was subjected to various influences--Political, Religious, and Commercial.
Political, by treaty or intermarriage, when imported taste or interchange would result, or by conquest.
Judging by the past, the conquered have invariably imposed their taste on their conquerors, as instanced in the Greek conquest of Persia; that of the Romans of the Greeks, and later the perpetuation of the Roman influence after their subjugation at the hands of the Goths.
The Crusades resulted in the importation of fabrics of Eastern and Sicilian origin, and may be classed as a religious influence; an earlier example of which may be cited in the edict of Pope Leo III in A.D. 726 in response to the iconoclastic movement, by reason of which the Byzantine art workers, deprived of their living, emigrated to the Rhine district.