Irving Lavin's two-volume collection spans Late Antiquity to 20th-century art, covering Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, 16th-century, Baroque, and Modern Art. Notable works are on Late Antique architecture and North African mosaics, Italian Renaissance, and 20th-century art like Picasso's printmaking and Jackson Pollock's painting.

Volumes I and II bring together all of Irving Lavin's studies aside from those on Gian Lorenzo Bernini. They range from studies of the art and architecture of Late Antiquity to twentieth-century painting in New York.