How to Read a Painting: Lessons from the Old Masters

by Patrick de Rynck, Ted Alkins (Translator), Elise Reynolds (Translator)

An anecdotal reference to the symbolism and themes of more than 150 key works of art shares background information about the theology, mythology, and folklore of the Renaissance era that shaped the works of such masters as Giotto, Botticelli, and Vermeer. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Reference, History, How To

383 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2004

Reviews

[Argos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çoğunluğu İtalyan ve Flemenk ressamlardan oluşan 109 usta ressamdan 180 bilinen önemli eserin incelendiği çok değerli bir çalışma. 13.-18. yüzyıllar arasını kapsıyor. Resimler dönem gereği ağırlıkla hristiyanlık (İsa, İncil hikayeleri, Meryem) temalı. Ancak yazarın yakaladığı ayrıntılar çok ilgi çekici. Sembollerin anlamı, sanat tarihi açısından incelenmesi, karşılaştırmalar çok yararlı. Bu içerikte okuduğum en doyurucu kitap diyebilirim. Adı gibi “eski ustalardan dersler” kitabı. Anektodlar ve tarihi hikayeler anlaşılmayı kolay kılıyor. Kitabın kuşe baskısı ve ciltlenmesi de çok özenli. 384 sayfa 17x24 cm

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book for art snobs such as myself who can never know enough about old paintings. Each painting gets two pages explaining the symbolism of certain objects, who the people represent, why the painter arranged the scene a certain way, the Biblical/mythological influences, etc. There's a wide range of paintings in the book, from very famous (of course The Mona Lisa is in here, because people can't stop wetting their pants over the damn thing), to the more obscure. The book starts with Maesta by Duccio di Buoninsegna (roughly 1255 AD) and ends with The Third of May, 1808 by Francisco de Goya. The descriptions and background information on the paintings and artists could probably stand to be a little more in-depth, but the book works well as a nice crash-course in fine art.

(modern art, obviously, is not included in the book, which as far as I'm concerned is a huge plus. Duchamp and his stupid toilet can go to hell.)

[Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting and informative, but I felt great disappointment each time I came across a famous/iconic painting like the "Mona Lisa" and many interesting insights and obvious information were lacking. I learned new things from this book, but the information that were mentioned in the book were somewhat bland and lacked the mind-blowing "oh wow" information that have been discussed in art history for years.

Such as Da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" - use of the Pyramid/Triangle - Trinity and the references to the number 3 (which also represents Holy Trinity) particularly the Apostles which are sitting in groups of three, three windows behind Jesus, and the most important of all is that Jesus forms a t triangle as well. This info was all lacking despite being a well-known fact.


In my opinion if one would REALLY like to know how to read a painting this book is not going to give you a great insight, but nevertheless it was interesting and obviously great illustrations.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is a bit misleading... What the author really does is walk you through hundreds of famous paintings, describing what certain elements mean, the story captured in the painting, the techniques used, etc. Still, I found it a very enjoyable read.

[Metin Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beklediğim kadar detay bulamadım. Kitabın boyutu yüzünden, resimlerin bırakın detaylarını, resmin kendisini bile rahat inceleyemiyorsunuz. Resimlerin hikayeleri bazıların verilmiş ama çoğunluğunda yoktu. Beklediğim gibi bir okuma olmadı kısacası. Çok kısa ve yüzeysel bilgi verilmiş.

[Cynka · Rating 3 out of 5]

330/380

Książka jest bardzo ciekawa, ale ciężko przeczytać ją "na raz", a później straciłam do niej serce.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was awesome. I know next to nothing about art, and when we went to Europe a few years ago and visited several museums, I felt guilty that I couldn't really appreciate the paintings I saw. This book is an easy-to-read guide to the symbolism used in Renaissance (and earlier) paintings, and also the stylistic inventions of various artists. The author gives you one painting per page (in roughly chronological order) and then just points out a few things about the painting. I definitely don't consider myself an expert now, but at least I can say that I have a deeper appreciation and understanding of art than I did before reading this book.

[Michael]

I got this book from Bookstar today in the hope that it might benefit what I've learned about in my art writing class.

The way that the book is about "reading" and decoding signifiers, signs, and symbols in paintings reminds me of an awesome rhetoric class I took- English 120 with Professor Tarah Allison. (Yes that's a plug for her class!! Take it if you're in San Diego. :D:D ) In one of the first lessons we discussed the nature of rhetoric and that there are a lot of subtexts in alternate texts or exchange symbols in language- like in an exercise we did where we dissected a print assignment.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite an interesting concept for a book.
It takes a hundred or so paintings (older stuff, no modern/post-modern here) and delves into the symbolism of the details inside the works, things you've probably wondered about from time to time, but had no idea where to reference it.
Well, it's here. It's an easy read, engaging and is full of full color paintings and painting details.

[Nisha Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The cross of the Lord was the Devil's mousetrap; the bait by which he was caught was the Lord's death."--St. Augustine

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice middling 3 stars.

Art books seem to me to be hard things to write, they can be to full on and text-booky, they can just brush the surface and pander to the newbie of the art world or they can get it bang on and give you a perfect mix of information and those sweet, sweet art facts.

This book floats somewhere around the middle.

This book would be a fab starting off point for someone just getting into art, as the time period is vast, as are all types of paintings included. Each painting has a couple of pages of info on it which is insightful and interesting.

However as someone who (although nowhere near anything like an expert) has a fair bit of knowledge on the history of art and art symbolism there just wasn’t enough info about each painting for me. Something’s I knew about from other sources where in fact entirely left out.

Now, I did learn some facts (my mind was blown regarding one about my all time fave picture). And the vast number of paintings included did go to highlight just how much better than their contemporaries the true masters such as Carrivagio, Van Eyke and Canelleto where.

I just needed a bit more information on each picture, but then there is only so much one book can do without becoming 6000 pages long.

Great starting off point, but I’m gonna flatter myself and believe I can take a more in depth view.

[Amy W · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little disappointed with this. I don't feel like the book has helped me understand symbolism as a whole as much as I would have liked.

I would have preferred the format to have been taking each element e.g. flowers, animals etc and saying what they are typically used to portray, using various examples of artwork where the motif is used in that way.

Instead the approach is a work or two by various artists (in date order from 1300s to 1800s) and picking apart any notable details in that particular painting. It was interesting, but hasn't really given me the tools to go out and find a painting and read into the meaning of it. I could only do that for a painting that's included in the book by trying to remember what the book told me about it.

Also, I don't think the book needed to be so exhaustive. Some of the paintings only had a couple of points to be made about them and were by lesser known artists. I question whether every single picture here brought something to the book but hey, I'm no art historian.

A bit of a slog overall.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction for total beginners to the long history of painting. That is all it is: for full history and interpretive discussions, you’ll have to look elsewhere. But even knowing what to look for on the interwebs is sometimes half the battle.

An example: The pages on “Et in Arcadia Ego” by Poussin only hint at the long history of back and forth on the meaning of this phrase, but a Wikipedia search leads one to fascinating deep-dive art criticism and discussion.

Could see this being used in an art history class to frame the planning and lay a foundation for a wide scope of study.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a very cool book, I have very few gripes with this book but I would have liked to see more art represented around the world. Some of the art chosen had little to say about it which made me feel that a more suitable image could’ve been chosen for this book rather than a simple landscape with just a couple things said about it (that was oftentimes not thought provoking at all).

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book! This is a great way to start learning about paintings as it does a two page break down on Western paintings starting at the end of Gothic Painting through early Realism.

[Sara Aljoughiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just wish most of the paintings wasn’t about religion, they have same interpretations and it’s a bit boring.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[翰林院编修 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wealth of information is released in the study of classic paintings. Symbolism, color, light are all examined to explain myth, legend and biblical story.

[Tony Foxhoven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could read something like this all day, every day. Just fantastic

[Wowaperson · Rating 2 out of 5]

İ dont like how it is too religious and heavy depending on the reading factor

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The images are too small. The book only describes objects in the paintings, and not how to read paintings.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never really read this kind of book before and it was pretty good. A bit didactic for my tastes-- or at least the lessons the author ascribed to the artists, especially near the end. But art is a manner of perspective and context so I'll give them that. I enjoyed the detailed look at the works and the explanations and mythos surrounding them so on the whole it was pretty interesting.

I had a hard time finding a theme though except under general progression of history and I think it would have flowed better with one. Still, the last image, while I couldn't believe that was the last one and that they used it, really tied together the momento mori aspect that ran throughout. Even if, in the end, it still feels jarring and out of place.

... Also the pictures are a bit too small and hard to see easily but that's the nature given the size of the book.

As for the central conceit, how to read a painting... well I can say I'm a little more educated but basically the lesson is context is key. The way the author pulled various symbols from this and that helped but in the end every painting is going to be a little bit different and you have to know the context from particular sets of paintings. For example a painting from turn of the century France would have a different set of contextual cues than one from 1600s England. Which is what I think this book was getting at in the end, so hey, maybe it did good there.

[Carolyn Fitzpatrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, but not terribly useful. The organization is purely painting by painting, each one taking up a two page spread. There are random little factoids arraigned all around it, mostly just a who's who - "The guy with the beard is supposed to be St James," "That's Father Time over there," etc. There is no attempt to group together commonly used visual clues by period or school. Occasionally you will get a tidbit like "Dogs in paintings of this era typically represent fidelity," which is more what I was looking for in this book. But these are few and far between. What is here is too limited for anyone researching particular paintings, and too fragmented for anyone wanting to better their knowledge of art as a whole.

[Rishonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for a beginner who had little to no formal background in Art. Just some of the things I've learned: paintings, unlike photos, don't really have things that just "happen" to be in the background. Side characters and small things often have hidden meanings. From a discarded slipper to a lemon peel, paintings are full of secret meanings. Also, even though art spans several centuries, the figures they draw from are surprisingly few. Religion and classical antiquity mostly, and only later do we see landscapes and scenes of daily life.

If you're looking for something comprehensive, look elsewhere. But this book has certainly awakened an interest in art for me. And after finishing it, I do feel more confident about reading paintings.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

De Rynck did a good job on all of the paintings that he did analyze. However, on a note, I do agree with the general consensus that he missed some of the finer details of the more iconic magnum opi. On the other hand, I think that this general consensus is slightly diluted in the fact that, in my opinion, some of the more famous artworks, like some of Da Vinci's better known pieces, are, to some degree, over analyzed. Thus, the friction is caused.

The one change I personally would've made in his book, would've been to choose one work per artist. Where was El Greco? Where was Edgar Degas? It was the fact that I missed some of my favorite artists were missing in action that I was not the biggest fan of this book.

[Ola · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book in it self gives what it promises: from some 200 examples from the history of great master painting a number of symbols are lifted out and explained. It is not a comprehensive and systematic guide. One is given 3-5 clues per painting, and over time that should build up a repository of the most important christian and mythological symbols. The approach is chronological, rather than thematic, but that's ok. The problem with the book, however, is that the reproductions are too small. A larger format would have earned the book two more stars.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. The paintingsa re all laid out one by one and there is little learnign invlved. Simply a show and tell, that said the information was of interest and certainly helpful in many of the paintings. Not too portable should you wish to carry the book to a gallery and enjoy the full picture, if you pardon the pun.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with this book. I took an art history class years ago and LOVED it, and was hoping this would be similar. It's so brief, with limited insights and details, and the paintings are often very small (only covering half a page at most) and it's near impossible to closely examine a given work. I was hoping for something more interesting and in-depth.

[a duck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first art history books I ever owned. It's nothing revolutionary, but it is such fascinating and fun read. If you're interested in art or history, I highly recommend you read this book. It's set up sort of like a textbook, but with more pictures and less text. Don't be daunted by the non-fiction genre.