The Secret Language Of The Renaissance: Decoding The Hidden Symbolism Of Italian Art: 2 By Richard Stemp

Crack the code of mystery and meaning in the greatest age of Italian art. We may never know what the Mona Lisa is really smiling about, but we do know that there s much more to the masterpieces of Renaissance art than the beauty that meets the eye. There are layers of significance below the surface of works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Michelangelo and many others – a store of secrets even more fascinating than fiction. This magnificently illustrated guide by an expert art historian gives you the key to unlock those secrets for yourself. In the mind of the Renaissance artist, meaning took shape through symbols: everything from peacocks to centaurs conveyed a message. Often these meanings drew on a traditional symbolic vocabulary, a common language available to educated people of the time but largely lost to modern viewers. Occasionally a painter, sculptor or architect encoded a more specific meaning in a canvas or a text, a bust or a building – perhaps even an explosive political sentiment or an encrypted expression of heretical faith. For all those who relish esoteric symbolism, cryptic codes, and the riches of Renaissance Italy itself, The Secret Language of the Renaissance will instruct and delight in equal measure. Softcover. Published by Watkins Publishing LTD 2018