Review by Booklist Review
Impelluso's delectable visual dictionary neatly explicates the symbolic and even magical meanings inherent in depictions of the natural world in traditional Western art, images that constitute a lost language just like the allusions De Rynck reveals. In order to reclaim this forgotten knowledge so that even when viewing a "simple still life" readers will understand that "every single fruit, flower, or animal is charged with a specific, characteristic significance," Impelluso organizes her guide into sections on plants, flowers, fruits, land animals, flying animals, aquatic animals, and creatures of the imagination. The meanings associated with, say, the rose, or the orange, the horse, the parrot, the dolphin, or the unicorn, are briskly elucidated, and premier examples are highlighted in 400 astutely chosen masterworks, each crisply reproduced and enhanced by concise and often surprising explanatory notes. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Following up on four previous titles explaining mythological and biblical iconography in paintings, the latest in the Getty's superb series does not disappoint. The myriad plants, flowers, fruits, animals (land, flying and aquatic) and "Creatures of the Imagination" that appear in medieval and Renaissance painting all have symbolic meanings; Impelluso devotes chapters to each of those categories, further dividing them by object: everything from quinces, myrtle and hyacinth to snakes, grasshoppers, sphinxes and harpies get their due. Impelluso (Gods and Heroes in Art) identifies their prominent appearances in various masterworks and explains their varying significances. Most of the reproductions are centered on the page, with small blocks of text surrounding them, with unobtrusive lines connecting the text to the actual objects it describes. It works beautifully, making the often ignored, busy backgrounds of many less-discussed works-like Lucas Cranach the Elder's The Virgin Under the Apple Tree and Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine-come alive with meaning. (Dec. 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
