Flowers of the Renaissance
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Flowers of the Renaissance
J. Paul Getty Museum, c2011
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
From the sunflower in Van Dyck's self-portrait to roses scattered around Botticelli's Venus to columbines in the borders of fifteenth-century manuscripts, flowers grace many Renaissance artworks. But their symbolism may not be understood by the modern viewer. This is the first book to untangle the richly layered botanical messages in many of the world's great masterpieces.
Renaissance artists made conscious choices about the flowers they included in their work and by embracing new methods of observation, rendered petals and leaves with an accuracy that made each species easily identifiable. Focusing on twenty popular Renaissance flowers, including roses, lilies, irises, tulips, daises, and poppies, the author discusses the history of cultivation of each variety before examining its symbolic meanings.
Flowers and plants were not usually the subject of a painting, but rather elements of a larger religious story. Influenced by the revival of classical ideals, Renaissance artists frequently married religious symbolism with that from contemporary romances or classical mythology. For example, the hortus conclusus or closed garden, traditionally a reference to the Virgin Mary, also became a symbol for the popular Romance of the Rose, and Venus, in her purest aspect as the goddess of love, was aligned with the Virgin Mary and, like her, often surrounded by roses or daisies.
This delightful and beautifully illustrated book uncovers hidden treasures in the grass at a saint's feet, on the sleeve of an Elizabethan lady, and inside the lid of a Florentine wedding chest, allowing the reader to appreciate another aspect of many of the Renaissance's most splendid works of art.
by "Nielsen BookData"