The study of iconography—how symbols and allegories function in art—offers a way to understand masterpieces that have puzzled scholars for generations. In this final lecture in his series on iconography, art historian Noah Charney focuses attention on works that reveal their secrets only to the initiated as he traces the hidden messages, social satire, and political subtext embedded in great pieces of art.
Using The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger and Mr. and Mrs. Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough as examples, he explores topics from Holbein’s distorted skull and political commentary to the strange story suggested by the unpainted patch in Gainsborough’s portrait of a country couple. Lastly, he tackles one of the art world’s most enduring mysteries—Giovanni Bellini’s enigmatic Sacred Allegory.
Additional Secrets and Symbols in Art Program
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