I simboli dell’arte

Dedicated to all art lovers, the volumes in this series offer a first-rate introduction to the ideas, characters and works that have most influenced the way we see the world.

The book is a nimble, informed and valuable guide into the fascinating world of symbols in the history of art, to enable us to discover what meaning a depiction of a dog or a monkey, a carnation flower or a palm tree has in a painting; or what elements such as water or fire, or stars or constellations, or even a footprint or a depiction of a human skeleton represent. What’s more, is the significance of a cat in ancient Egyptian art the same as it takes on in a Flemish Renaissance painting? And does the depiction of a dragon in a Chinese drawing at the time of the Yang Dynasty have anything in common with the dragon that St. George slays in Italian or Flemish art?

A valuable feature of the volume, in keeping with the approach of the Art Essentials series, is that it offers a 360-degree look at art, both chronologically, ranging from the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean basin and the East (Egypt, Babylon) to modern-day artists such as Olafur Eliasson and Bill Viola, and geographically.

In this regard, the volume decisively leaves behind the old Eurocentric paradigm, which has dominated even art history studies for so many years, showing us the various metamorphoses of symbols from Persian miniatures to the Japanese graphic art of Hokusai, from the Spanish sacred painting of the 1600s by El Greco and Velázquez to Aztec reliefs and jewelry, from the Buddhas of ancient Cambodia or the Pakistani Gandhara civilization to the surrealist works of Max Ernst.

BY
Matthew Wilson – British art historian, writer and lecturer; author of numerous contributions that have appeared in various specialist venues.