Signs and Symbols

Violet and pomegranate, unicorn and dog, bull and lion, parrot and peacock, scales and pearl, horn of plenty and mirror, the sign «Mirror of Venus» and the Christian sign «ichthys»… How often do we see these and other signs and symbols in the paintings of famous masters and do not even think about the fact that these images have an additional meaning, different from their own superficial one. These signs, which give works depth, mystery, and multilayeredness, exist not only in the realm of reason but also in the realm of feelings. Symbols are diverse – they are designated by numbers, objects and phenomena, forms and images of animals, birds or insects, and so on. Symbols manifest themselves especially vividly in painting and sculpture. Centuries, and sometimes entire millennia, separate us from the creators of these now-famous works of visual art. These people existed in a different system of life coordinates and believed in different gods. The monuments that have survived from those ancient times were meant to not only delight the eye and amaze with the delicacy of execution, but also often carried a specific idea that contemporaries could read easily. We, however, while experiencing purely aesthetic pleasure from familiarizing ourselves with these monuments, often overlook their semantic significance, not paying attention to the telling details or not understanding what they may imply, thereby depriving ourselves of a full perception of the works of art. The meanings of signs and symbols are almost impossible to accidentally «decode», they need to be known. And this is where the new book by Natalia Kortunova – a well-known art historian, senior research associate at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, curator of several exhibitions at the museum – will help you. Signs, symbols, and allegories in painting literally surround us. And often it is enough to just pay attention to them, to understand what secret meaning they carry, for the work of art to shine with new colors!