Product Description

This dictionary relates in a succinct, readable way the themes, sacred and secular, on which the repertoire of European art is based. Cross-references enable the reader to identify the subject of a picture simply from some characteristic object or figure in it. Here in a single volume are combined religious and historical themes. The "Dictionary" also explores the "lost language" of symbol and attribute, thus opening up the whole field of allegory.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #163663 in Books
• Published on: 1989-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
"I would recomend this book strongly to anyone who wishes to increase his interest and pleasure visitng a picture gallery or turning over the illustrations of a book on art." (Kenneth Clark )

Customer Reviews

Excellent Reference Book
For anyone interested in art, who often visits galleries, and is taken in by paintings of every century, but can mnot quite figure out the roles of figures, and symbolic gestures and positions. Then this dictionary will give you a clearer understanding of the world of art. Occasionally accompanied with black and white line drawings, the book contains an extremely large and wideranding number of symbols, from Gods and religious figures, such as Flora, and Job, to symbolic meanings of everyday objects, such as clocks and coins. The definitions have close attention to detail, with almost all definitions refering amongst themselves in a large network of characters, for example when refering to Icarus, who most of us know flew too close to the sun, may not have known he was the son of Athenian craftsman Daedalus. It also refers to the representations of the legend, with the God Helios, and how painters differed over meanings of the story. Overall this tidy little reference book contains superfluous information, but has contained it all extremely concisely, which makes this a must have for history of art students, or art enthusiastics.

Essential Reading for Art History Students
I found this essential for my studies and even enjoyed dipping into it for the fascinating little stories on Greek Gods and Christian Saints illustrated with neat line drawings.
If you are studying or are interested in Art History, particularly Renaissance Italian Art, this is a must-buy.
A concise and well-written tool.

Not as useful as it sounds
I was looking for a dictionary which would provide some assistance with the emblematic interpretation of art. I was expecting the book to help with the meaning of mussel shells, musical instruments, shoes, bird cages etc in painting. However, I'm afraid, it does not deal much with the emblems common to seventeenth century Dutch painting. But so long as you are not expecting the dictionary to help decipher these kind of 'emblem' symbols, it should probably be fairly useful.