The Shape of the Heart: A Contribution to the Iconology of the Heart

by Pierre J. Vinken

The most widely recognised icon in the world is the human heart, as depicted, for example, on playing cards. But a heart has neither a dent nor fold in its base, it is not 'nipped in the waist' and it does not have a sharp point on its underside. Since the days of the ancient Greeks, anatomists have correctly reported that the heart is shaped like a pine cone or has the outline of an upturned pyramid. Why is the shape of such a popular icon so at variance with the heart's true form?

It seems that the indentation or fold in the base of the heart first appeared in Northern Italy in the early years of the fourteenth century. It was the result of an error originally made in an anatomical text by Aristotle. In the sixteenth century, anatomists finally corrected the error, but, by that time, the scalloped heart icon had become so established in the visual arts that it could no longer be changed.

This work also contains a section devoted to a cave, shaped like the interior of the heart, in an allegorical print by Jan Saenredarn (1604). The representation was a creation of Hendrik Spiegel (1549-1612), one of the fathers of Dutch grammar and a friend of Cornelis Cornelisz, Hendrik Goltzius and Karel van Mander.

Genres: History

206 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ashley]

For students and researchers interested in how the heart icon developed, Vinken's book is sort of a success. He, rightly, points out that anatomical knowledge of the heart existed long before the heart icon that we know today made its way into art and design. He begins by quoting Panofsky, Erwin who wrote that he could, "never find out when, where, and how the schematization into what we call heart-shaped form came about." Vinken finds out. He begins by discussing representations of anatomical hearts in early sculptures and paintings (like 12000-900 BCE early) and then up through the middle ages and early modern era. Vinken argues that the heart shape we know today, "pinecone-like," convex, and with a dent in the top emerged sometime in the 14th century. He presents evidence that the dent in the top of the shape was the result of an error in anatomical understanding regarding a possible third chamber. However, Vinken points out that better anatomical knowledge in the 16th century did not lead to a revision of the heart symbol. Instead, by this point, it had become "entrenched in the visual culture." Vinken also notes that the iconography of leaves also impacted representations of the heart (and still do today).

Vinken presents interesting arguments but I found "The Shape of the Heart" incredibly difficult to read. Trained as a neurosurgeon, Vinken's art historical methodology and work is deeply frustrating. The text employs a tremendous amount of passive voice-- a personal pet peeve but one that obscures his larger point. He often doesn't explain who presented a particular interpretation, leading a reader to dig through lots of footnotes. It also focuses almost exclusively on Western art. While he does include some Latin American art in the initial chapter, he quickly moves away from non-Western, non-Christian representations of the heart. At best, the book is an incomplete examination of the iconography of the heart.

Honestly, the most valuable thing in this book is the quick reference chart on page 84.