The Secret Language of the Renaissance: Decoding the Hidden Symbolism of Italian Art

About this book

During the Renaissance artists traditionally encoded meanings into symbols some of which drew upon a traditional repertoire available to educated people in the era. These hidden messageswhich ranged from the esoteric to the political to the religiouscould be communicated in everything from the position of a hand to the placement of the sun and moon. The Secret Language of the Renaissance helps us discover them anew as lecturer author and director Richard Stemp teaches you the art of reading these paintings. Magnificently illustrated throughout and with a six-color gold-foil cover this remarkable book has three distinct parts. The first surveys the literature painting sculpture architecture and decorative arts of this remarkable period. Section two reviews the essential elements of symbolic language in Renaissance art including the use of color geometry light and shade composition proportion perspective and body language; the explanatory examples reach from Crivellis Annunciation to Donatellos Mary Magdalene. And the final part features themes including Mythology War and Peace and Death and Eternity.