This third volume turns to the late Middle Ages, when "the serene art of the 13th century was followed by the impassioned, sorrowful art of the 14th and 15th centuries." Confronted by Franciscan Christianity, painters and sculptors reacted to "poets who had the gift of tears," rather than to the "grave men nourished by doctrine" who had inspired artists of the 1200s. Viewing the reign of Charles VI as the beginning of the iconography of the late Middle Ages, Mâle focuses on the 15th century, but includes discussion of 16th-century works of art up to the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563.