中世纪的建筑、文艺复兴时期的绘画、十八世纪的雕塑、十九世纪的音乐曾是文艺的典范,二十世纪的视觉艺术又占据了显赫地位。于是,对艺术相互之间进行比较研究,也作为比较文学的一个分支而发展起来。人们感觉到艺术和文学之间的共同点等同于诗歌与绘画之间的共同点,因为二者从根本上来说都属于摹仿艺术。 Medieval buildings, Renaissance paintings, sculptures of the eighteenth century, and music of the nineteenth century were examples of literature and art. The visual arts of the twentieth century took up prominence. Thus, a comparative study of the arts has also developed as a branch of comparative literature. People feel that the common ground between art and literature equates to the common ground between poetry and painting because both are fundamentally artifacts.