Gothic is a term denoting styles in the art and architecture of the West from about the mid-12th century to the 15th (Italy) or mid-16th (elsewhere). It was first used by Vasari to describe pre-Renaissance architecture, following humanist writers who had associated architecture before Brunelleschi with gente barbara or Germans. From the 18th century, when antiquaries distinguished a Romanesque style, Gothic was restricted to the centuries between Romanesque and the Renaissance.