Heiligen

A Guide to Imagery #16

by Rosa Giorgi, Murk Salverda (Translator)

"What does this mean? Who are these people?"Questions like these are often asked by visitors to museums. Today, it is often easier to understand abstract art than it is to understand the meaning of an altarpiece that portrays a seminaked young man shot with arrows; a monk with an ax in his head; a beautiful girl with a wheel in her hand; or another who carries her eyes on a plate. From Agatha to Zeno, this book presents the images and attributes of more than one hundred saints, those most frequently encountered in sacred art, history and legend, tradition and devotional literature. Lavishly illustrated, this book introduces the saints with their identifying attributes, notes on their lives and martyrdoms, and visual references that make it easy to identify their characters and legends and the forms of worship for each. Book jacket.

Genres: Art, Religion, Nonfiction, Art History, History, Theology

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Rosa Giorgi is an art historian who specializes in iconography and iconology. Her most recent publications include books on Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio, Diego Velázquez, and El Greco. She is also the author of Saints in Art (2002) and Angels and Demons in Art (2003). In addition to writing, she teaches at the Catholic University and the Brera Picture Gallery in Milan, where she lives.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tries to be a study of art and saints. Which after reading up on 120 different saints and even more pieces of art I feel a little more knowledgeable about this style of art. In many ways it is detective work that only becomes clear when the whole story is presented. And often the artist's depiction assumes the audience knows the story. That's where there is a breakdown in this type of art, and in this book. There were basic biographies given of each saint; yet whatever the saint's legend was, (that was being depicted in the art), was often not given. As a book about art, this book didn't even offer up dimensions or materials used for any of the artwork; and no information about the artists. There are beautiful full color images of all the artwork in the book. However, I would not consider this a good reference source for saints, nor would it have enough information about the artwork to be able to be cited.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable, pithy book of various works of art featuring some connection to a saint combined with historical and anecdotal vignettes. Variations on these themes are available at most museum gift shops. Good companion for a trip or Jeopardy preparation.

[Theut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elenco di oltre un centinaio di Santi (di alcuni dei quali non avevo nessuna conoscenza) con alcune delle opere che li hanno ritratti. Anche qui la selezione iconografica è sicuramente il punto di forza.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I always want to be able to identify the attributes of various saints in art, and I only know a few. Now I've learned a lot more and I'd really like to commit them to memory, so that next time Lorri and I go through Cloisters I'll be better at identifying them :)

[Whitaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really great book shows us how everything is great and worth to die for

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Da portare sempre con sè se si visita un museo, una pinacoteca o una mostra.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written and presented. If you are curious about the topic, this book is absolutely great.