There was a time, and not so long ago, when men spoke not of the Middles Ages but of the Dark Ages. We have learned that their apparent darkness is the darkness of our own understanding. When we contemplate the history of medieval art, and summon up remembrance of what its works were in their day, and see the part played in them by metal gold, we may well wonder whether we should not do wisely to call them not the Middles Ages but the Golden Age.

— The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting by Daniel V. Thompson (Page 229)