Understanding Paintings : Themes in Art Explored and Explained

by Sturgis, Alexander

• ISBN13: 9780823055791
• ISBN10: 0823055795
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2000-10-01
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill

Summary

The first and only book to discuss the entire history of painting by genre, rather than by chronology, this fresh approach gives readers a new and enlightened way to view and understand the language of art through the ages.

Table of Contents

Introduction	6	(14)
Timeline	14	(4)
Religious Painting	18	(52)
Introduction	20	(2)
Sites and functions	22	(2)
Sacred spaces	24	(2)
The altarpiece	26	(2)
Private devotions	28	(2)
Creation and Fall	30	(2)
Angels and devils	32	(2)
Heroes and heroines	34	(2)
Prefiguration	36	(2)
Images of Mary	38	(2)
Images of Christ	40	(2)
The life of Mary	42	(2)
The childhood of Christ	44	(2)
Fishing for souls	46	(2)
The Passion	48	(2)
The body of Christ	50	(2)
Triumph over death	52	(2)
Images of saints	54	(2)
Martyrdom	56	(2)
Miracles	58	(2)
Solitude	60	(2)
Christianity and the antique	62	(2)
Christendom divided	64	(2)
Alternative visions	66	(2)
The Last Judgement	68	(2)
Myth and Allegory	70	(34)
Introduction	72	(2)
Search for the Classical past	74	(2)
The gods of Olympus	76	(2)
The loves of Jupiter	78	(2)
The painter's bible	80	(2)
Demigods and heroes	82	(2)
The uses of myth	84	(2)
Mythical beasts and monsters	86	(2)
Norse and Arthurian myth	88	(2)
Women and myth	90	(2)
Freud and mythology	92	(2)
Reinterpreting Classical myth	94	(2)
Modern mythology	96	(2)
Painting a message	98	(2)
A darker message	100	(2)
Political allegory	102	(2)
The Nude	104	(12)
Introduction	106	(2)
Gods and goddesses	108	(2)
The human form	110	(2)
The modern male nude	112	(2)
The modern female nude	114	(2)
History Painting	116	(18)
Introduction	118	(2)
The Classical past	120	(2)
Other histories	122	(2)
Scenes of virtue	124	(2)
Painting for the public	126	(2)
Contemporary heroes	128	(2)
History in the making	130	(2)
Painting as protest	132	(2)
Portraiture	134	(30)
Introduction	136	(2)
The origins of portraiture	138	(2)
Catching a likeness	140	(2)
Exploring poses	142	(2)
Expression	144	(2)
The use of setting	146	(2)
Self-protraiture	148	(2)
Double portraits	150	(2)
Group portraits	152	(2)
Ruler portraits	154	(2)
Swagger portraits	156	(2)
Intimate images	158	(2)
Abstract portraits	160	(2)
The passage of time	162	(2)
Landscape	164	(28)
Introduction	166	(2)
God in nature	168	(2)
Topography	170	(2)
The Golden Age	172	(2)
Heroic landscapes	174	(2)
Townscapes	176	(2)
Seascapes	178	(2)
The transient world	180	(2)
Weather	182	(2)
The seasons	184	(2)
Times of the day and night	186	(2)
Wildness	188	(2)
Apocalyptic landscapes	190	(2)
Genre	192	(26)
Introduction	194	(2)
The poor	196	(2)
Virtue	198	(2)
Vice	200	(2)
Food and drink	202	(2)
Leisure	204	(2)
Rural life	206	(2)
Urban life	208	(2)
Travel and the exotic	210	(2)
Music	212	(2)
Animal painting	214	(2)
Sporting painting	216	(2)
Still Life	218	(18)
Introduction	220	(2)
The independent still life	222	(2)
Creating an illusion	224	(2)
Flower painting	226	(2)
Reminders of death	228	(2)
Symbolism and allegory	230	(2)
A feast for the eyes	232	(2)
A new perspective	234	(2)
Abstract Painting	236	(18)
Introduction	238	(2)
Shattering the image	240	(2)
The invention of abstraction	242	(2)
Neo-Plasticism	244	(2)
Abstract Expressionism	246	(2)
Minimalism	248	(2)
Op Art	250	(2)
New directions	252	(2)
Materials and techniques	254	(6)
Medieval and Renaissance painting	254	(2)
Early oil painting	256	(2)
Modern painting	258	(2)
Glossary	260	(2)
List of paintings	262	(5)
Bibliography	267	(1)
Index	268	(3)
Acknowledgments	271