Secret Language Of The Renaissance

Product Description

The mind of the Renaissance artist differs from our modern mind in its habit of encoding meanings into symbols
- everything from beehives to centaurs. Often these meanings drew upon a traditional symbolic repertoire available to Renaissance man but now largely disused. However sometimes a more esoteric meaning was encoded in a painting sculpture building or other visual artefact or in a text
- perhaps even a hidden political message or an expression of heretical faith. The Secret Language of the Renaissance peels back these layers of meaning in three distinct detailed sections. Part One is a vivid immersion in the culture of this remarkable period encompassing literature painting sculpture & the decorative arts. Part Two offers a wide-ranging guide to the essential elements of symbolic language in Renaissance art including colour geometry light & shade proportion perspective & body language. Part Three the heart of the book analyses more than 40 works arranged in a theme-by-theme guide to the symbolism. Each major work is shown in all its glory & then deconstructed
- or decoded
- to reveal the symbols that it contains & interpret their enigmatic meaning in that particular context. Punctuating these three parts there are fascinating boxed features that shed light on themes & topics of the time from guilds & confraternities to the original 'bonfire of the vanities'. For all those who relish secret symbolism & conspiracies as well as all lovers of the art of Renaissance Italy this book will instruct & delight in equal measure.