How to Read Bible Stories and Myths in Art: Decoding the Old Masters from Giotto to Goya

In How to Read Bible Stories and Myths in Art, Patrick De Rynck explores the roots  of Western civilization from three different angles: He introduces the reader to the best-known stories from the Bible and mythology; he presents a selection of exquisite masterpieces by some of the world's greatest painters; and he shows the reader how these painters interpreted these famous scenes.

Using the same highly visual approach that made his How to Read a Painting a popular success, De Rynck shows how artists portrayed the main subjects of Western art. Old Masters such as Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, and countless others rendered these stirring, poignant, bloodthirsty, and even erotic tales on panel or canvas, in the process creating a familiar way of visualizing our collective imagination.

Patrick De Rynck is the author of Abrams' successful How to Read a Painting, as well as nine other books, including an ABC of classical literature and a retelling of Greek myths. He is a classicist, translator, publicist, and freelance writer for museums, publishers, newspaper, and radio.