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

Stemp, Richard

ISBN 10: 1844833224 / ISBN 13: 9781844833221

Published by Duncan Baird, 2006

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Secret Language of the Renaissance: Decoding the Hidden Symbolism of Italian Art
• Publisher: Duncan Baird
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844833224
• ISBN 13: 9781844833221
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

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 messages—which ranged from the esoteric to the political to the religious—could 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 Crivelli’s Annunciation to Donatello’s Mary Magdalene. And the final part features themes including Mythology, War and Peace, and Death and Eternity.

About the Author

Richard Stemp studied Natural Sciences and History of Art a the University of Cambridge and has a Ph.D in Italian Renaissance sculpture.  After a year at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, he now divides his time between art history and acting.