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Tafelfreuden in der Kunst
Thirthy-Eight works from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 8, 2026
Solid portable art book. Centered around paintings/objects related to food and dining from the Viennese Kunsthistorisches Museum. As such, most of the focus is on Germanic/Dutch/Northern European objects.
The book had really great analysis of symbolism (ex. cherries linked to feeling of spring, beans standing for poverty and lethargy, goose as a symbol of a prostitute/girl). Honestly I might start a doc/organized notes app list with all the symbols that were mentioned in the brief span of these 100ish pages.
In addition to analyzing symbolism, in more complex paintings, text did a good job at explaining each component and also in the order that the eye tends to move in.
Definitely will go back to reread. It's dense text, and deserves at least one more once-over to let the ideas fully sink in.
The book had really great analysis of symbolism (ex. cherries linked to feeling of spring, beans standing for poverty and lethargy, goose as a symbol of a prostitute/girl). Honestly I might start a doc/organized notes app list with all the symbols that were mentioned in the brief span of these 100ish pages.
In addition to analyzing symbolism, in more complex paintings, text did a good job at explaining each component and also in the order that the eye tends to move in.
Definitely will go back to reread. It's dense text, and deserves at least one more once-over to let the ideas fully sink in.
Displaying 1 of 1 review