This book is good for understanding what goes on under the hood of art critics, not all, but Bell represents the type of Brit, who thinks overly high of himself right before the great war. That aside, he makes a good starting point for looking at art(mostly painting) but leaves one wanting as he never gets to what really makes a painting good.(says the best art comes from 600 CE) And yes that is what hes talking about, just painting. This book, short and fast only makes me, and perhaps you want to look at other points in other books, which is the point of the course I read it for does.
Overall he suffers from "missing the point" I'm curious if he changes his tune during the rest of his life over that next 40 years.