The Square Halo and Other Mysteries of Western Art: Images and the Stories That Inspired Them, by Sally Fisher

Retrieved from: ILL
(0810944634)

Interesting, but a little basic. I'd like a real text-y book about this subject. But there were some good chunks of info to help understand some of the symbolism in Medieval/Renaissance art. For instance, the Virgin Mary usually has lilies around her and wears blue; that's how you know it's her. The Magdalen is usually in red with her perfume jar.

I will say that it certainly helps to know the Bible to 'get' some of this stuff. On the other hand, the saints are quite complicated: they usually are pictured with the devices that martyred them (assuming they were martyred) or some important scene from their lives. If that's not enough--there are three women saints that involve dragon stories--you just have to guess.

A little mythological knowledge is useful as well, since the Medieval view was that even though the Greek culture was at it's high point before Christ's arrival, all their prophecies and so forth were really about Christ, even though they didn't ever figure it out. So we have Venus and Mars having something to do with the gospels. Or something.

The most valuable thing I retained is the symbols for the four evangelists:

Matthew, the winged man
Mark, the winged lion
Luke, the winged ox
John, the eagle

There are reasons for this, but she doesn't get into them, and I wish she had.

The upside: there is a decent bibliography. More books to read. Yee haw!