The Lost Language of Allegory: Subjects and Symbols in Old Master Prints
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Francisco de Goya
(Spanish, 1746-1828)
Una Reina del Circo
1816-1823
Etching and aquatint on paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr. in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
1988.4.3
A review of symbols in Old Master prints using examples from the permanent collection of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama.
This project was conceived in memory of Adolph Weil, Jr. (1915-1995), the primary donor to the Museum's Old Master Print Collection, and a long-time friend of the Museum.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
St. Jerome in His Cell
1511
Woodcut on paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil
1999.7.30
In art, specific objects have traditionally served as “visual shorthand”
…designed to communicate information or meaning to the viewer. These symbols were usually better understood by audiences of the past, since the educated layperson had regular access to classic literature and mythology, as well as stories of the Bible that are the sources for many symbolic references.
For example, an image of an elderly man accompanied by a lion (such as the engraving to the left) was widely recognized as the Saint Jerome, a scholar of the early Catholic Church. The lion was the “signifier” that the man in the image was Jerome, who, as legend says, removed a thorn from the suffering lion's paw and thus earned the animal's companionship for life.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
St. Jerome in His Cell
1511
(detail 1) (detail 2)
Woodcut on paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.30
Apart from the lion, other elements in Albrecht Dürer's image of St. Jerome have importance as symbols.
The hourglass seen on the wall behind the Saint (left) is a reminder of mortality and the passage of time. The books on the shelf (left), and the activity depicted (writing in a book), indicate that the Saint was an educated person with academic interests.
The books are also symbolic of the holy scripture as well as Jerome's scholarship. He translated the Bible into Latin, in the version known as the Vulgate Bible. In accordance with traditional images of the Saint, and as a mark of respect, Dürer has shown him wearing the robes of a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, even though the office of cardinal was instituted later in Church history.
Dürer was a German Renaissance artist active at the beginning of the sixteenth century. For humanist scholars of Dürer's era, St. Jerome was an historical figure worthy of emulation—combining elements of academic achievement with a reverence for the Christian faith.
Rembrandt Van Rijn
(Dutch, 1606-1669)
St. Jerome Beside a Pollard Willow
1648
Etching and drypoint, with engraving on paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.106
Rembrandt Van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669)
A little more than a century later, another great printmaker utilized the subject of St. Jerome. Rembrant Van Rijn demonstrates his mastery of graphic design by focusing this composition on an ancient, weathered willow, symbolic of longevity, as well as perseverance. The saint is shown as an elderly bespectacled man at study, positioned in the background, and visually equated with the gnarled old tree.
In this case the lion “signifier” seems an afterthought; he peers from around the back of the tree trunk in a manner that is curious, almost playful. The skull placed before the Saint is a memento mori, a symbolic reminder of impending and inevitable death.
Lucas Van Leyden
(Dutch,1489-1533)
Portrait of a Young Man with A Skull
1519
Engraving
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.40
As a memento mori, the human skull was probably the most commonly used symbolic reference to death and dying in Old Master prints.
The engraving on the left, by the Dutch printmaker Lucas Van Leyden, exemplifies this, as the figure points to a skull cradled in his cloak. The work is a visual meditation on both mortality and morality, otherwise called a vanitas image.
Vanitas images were intended to prompt the viewer to examine his conscience and amend sinful behavior. Here, the young man's gesture conveys the warning that humanity's shared fate is ultimately death and decay. By cradling the skull he implies that death is something everyone must one day embrace.
The skull was not the only device used as an emblem of mortality, however; artists also depicted images of entire human skeletal figures as symbols for death or disease.
Lucas Van Leyden
(Dutch,1489-1533)
Portrait of a Young Man with A Skull
1519 (detail)
Engraving
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.40
Vanitas images usually include warnings against decadence and self indulgence.
Here the figure's age is significant; youth was commonly associated with lack of self control and foolish behavior. His fine fashionable clothing, curled hair, and elaborate, plumed hat are references to opulence and luxury that were counterproductive to the moral life that would insure salvation. Although religious references are not overt in Van Leyden's composition, the character of the work promotes respect for God and avoidance of sin.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
Madonna with the Monkey
1498
Engraving on paper
Gift of the Weil Print Endowment in memory of Mr. And Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
2001.10
Religious subject matter predominated in the early years of printmaking
…when the Roman Catholic Church was the overwhelmingly influential force in everyday life. Education was available primarily under the auspices of the Church, and printed texts as well as religious images were conventional and traditional restatements of earlier sources.
The Virgin Mary was the focus of devotion by the Catholic faithful beginning in about the fifth century. By the medieval period, and in the Renaissance, images of the Virgin became firmly established as objects of devotion, and therefore more numerous and widespread. Mary holding the infant Jesus was a popular iconographic format.
Madonna with the Monkey is a typical restatement of this theme from the fifteenth century. Based on both Northern European and Italian precedents, it depicts the Virgin as a beautiful young mother with an active and restless child. The viewer is encouraged to identify with them as actual people since the emphasis in the composition is not on the figures' divinity, but on the worldly setting, as well as the human qualities of tenderness, and mischievous restlessness.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
Madonna with the Monkey
1498 (detail)
Engraving on paper
Gift of the Weil Print Endowment in memory of Mr. And Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
2001.10
The most intriguing element of the Madonna with the Monkey is the small monkey chained at Mary's feet,
…and therefore subservient to her. The monkey's quiet demeanor belies his serious role as an emblem in the Renaissance era. Symbolic of the sins of lust and greed, and an allusion to the devil, the animal is chained to suggest that the Virgin's purity has conquered and subdued evil.
The work is filled with other common symbols relative to the Virgin and Child. The bird which struggles in the child Jesus's hand is emblematic of the Christian soul captured by the Lord and subject to his will. The Virgin rests her hand upon a book representing sacred scripture. She is seated on a low wall that separates her from the wider world in the background. The enclosed space in which she sits is a metaphor for her unique position in the world as the Mother of Jesus Christ. Although she lived in the mortal world, her purity and sacred role set her apart from other human beings, as she alone was conceived without mortal sin.
The small building behind the Virgin is copied from a watercolor Dürer made of a border fortress used in the defense of his home city of Nuremberg. Possibly the artist also intended to contrast the two visually—the Virgin and this fortress—in order to suggest that she serves in that spiritual role for all mankind.
Martin Schongauer
(German, ca. 1450-1491)
St. Lawrence
ca. 1485-90
Engraving on paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr. in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
1984.19.3
The “attribute” is a specific object associated with an individual as an identifying symbol.
In religious prints intended for devotional purposes, martyred saints were traditionally depicted with instruments related to the method of their martyrdom. As with St. Jerome and his lion, portraying a figure with the appropriate attribute was a simple way for the artist to distinguish the subject for the viewer.
Martin Schongauer depicts St. Lawrence with two symbols held in his left hand. The first is a palm branch, which refers both to his death in the service of Christianity, and to the entry of Christ into Jerusalem when He was greeted by crowds carrying branches of palm. The second represents the gridiron on which Lawrence was tortured for his faith. In his right hand he carries a book, traditionally a reference to the Holy Scripture.
Martin Schongauer
(German, ca. 1450-1491)
The Baptism of Christ
ca. 1480-1490
(detail) Engraving on paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr. in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
1998.3
The use of symbols was transformed by art's renewed relationship to the secular world during the Renaissance era. Ecclesiastical conventions gave way to the spirit of Humanism…
A comparison of two engravings of the Baptism of Christ illustrates the nature of this transformation. Schongauer's work is essentially a medieval product that follows the established conventions for presenting the event—the deities are represented by symbols and are vertically arranged in the center of the composition. The single spectator is another supernatural being: the angel holding Christ's vestments. Schongauer's work is set in a spiritual world, and literally illustrates the Biblical passage that inspired it.
Lucas Van Leyden
(Dutch, 1489-1533)
The Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan
ca. 1510
Engraving on paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.34
However, a work created roughly ten years later by Lucas Van Leyden demonstrates the evolution of this theme from a purely spiritual event to one that takes place in contemporary times and in the daily life of the mortal onlookers. Christ and John the Baptist are hard to distinguish in the sea of spectators that fills this composition. The setting is equally grounded in the real world rather than the spiritual one. The event takes place in Northern Europe rather than the Middle East, and the participants inhabit a clearing in the deep woods, with a small medieval town in the background.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
Hercules at the Crossroads
1498
Engraving on paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.18
The human figure may also play a role in symbolic presentations by serving as the “personification” of an abstract concept…
In addition to the Bible and popular literature, a major inspiration for medieval and Renaissance imagery was classical mythology and narratives associated with the various gods, goddesses and heroes of antiquity.
The human figures in these images may be individuals or personifications, that is, an abstract concept depicted in human form. In this engraving by Dürer, for instance, the nude male form in the foreground is the classical hero Hercules (a specific historical figure), who intervenes in a confrontation between Virtue (personified as the clothed figure swinging a stick) and Vice (the reclining nude woman.)
Such works were intended as moral lessons in visual form. In this case, human emotional conflict—the opposition of worldly temptations versus the inherent nobility of mankind—are presented in terms of physical confrontation.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
Fortune
1495
Engraving on paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.22
Forms adopted from the classical art of Greece and Rome served as the basis for art of the Italian Renaissance.
Renaissance thought emphasized an interest in nature and secular life. Artists responded to the educated public's curiosity about natural history and science as it was understood at that time, and allied with this interest was the artists' fascination with the human body and the study of proportions.
The nude woman shown as Fortuna is a personification of the concept of fortune or fate. She balances upon a sphere, indicative of her worldwide influence. In keeping with the tradition that fortune is blind (thus impartial), her eyes are vacant. A distinctive element of Dürer's composition is the presence of the sprig of Eryngium (sea holly) in the goddess's fingers. The plant was a symbol of love and betrothal believed to have aphrodisiac properties. Combining the concepts of love and fate suggests the precarious nature of that strong emotion.
Albrecht Dürer
(German, 1471-1528)
The Ill-Assorted Couple
1495
Engraving on laid paper
Gift of Jean K. Weil in memory of Adolph 'Bucks' Weil, Jr.
1999.7.3
Entire compositions may take on symbolic meaning when they serve as visual counterparts to written text.
Dürer created this engraving based upon a common moralistic theme in literature and art, that is a sexually-charged encounter between an older man and younger woman. Most images of this type emphasize the character of the individuals—in this case the greed of the woman and the folly of the older man. The monetary exchange is a focal point in this composition. The two people handle their respective purses; the woman's outstretched palm conveys her solicitation of money and, in response, his arm encircles her in a gesture of possession.
The horse tethered in the background, mirrors the human theme. His straining against the bridle, is symbolic of so-called unbridled passion, of sensual pleasure and lust.
Francisco de Goya
(Spanish, 1748-1828)
Le Prisonnier
ca. 1810-1820 (printed 1867)
Engraving on paper
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Jr. in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Weil, Sr.
1985.4.1
In the absence of literal text, an image may deliver a powerful message based upon the symbolic use of compositional elements.
In the etching, Le Prisonnier, the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya captures the pain, fear and despair of any person who has ever been held captive or imprisoned. The use of the chains is understood in the real sense that a prisoner is kept in shackles, but the artist uses them symbolically as well—to stand for the oppression of the human mind and spirit. The darkness is the actual darkness of a prison cell, but also a metaphor for the overwhelming hopelessness that defines the prisoner's existence.
Goya witnessed a great deal of suffering and death during the period of the Spanish War of Independence from 1808 to 1814. This experience led him to create compositions that engender in the viewer empathy for the victims of violence everywhere and in every age.
Symbols in Art
References for further reading
Barthes, Roland. The Empire of Signs. Translated by Richard Howard. 1st American edition. New York: Hill and Wang, 1982.
Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Translated by S. G. C. Middlemore. 15th edition. London: G. G. Harrap and Co., 1929.
Chevalier, Jean and Alain Gheerbrandt. A Dictionary of Symbols. Translated from the French by John Buchanan-Brown. London: Penguin Books, 1996.
Cirlot, Juan Eduardo. A Dictionary of Symbols. Translated from the Spanish by Jack Sage. New York: Philosophical Library, 1962.
Ferguson, George Wells. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.
The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. Translated by Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger. 2 Volumes. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1941.
Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. New York: Harper and Row, 1974.
Huyghe, Rene. Art and the Spirit of Man. Translated from the French by Norbert Guterman. New York: Abrams, 1962.
Mitchell, W. J. Thomas. Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986.