Allegory:

•Illustrates complex ideas and concepts in a digestable, concrete way

•Used widely throughout history in art, literature, mythology, religion, etc

•Messages are communicated by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation.

When characters or events represent or symbolize ideas and concepts.

Symbolism is:AbstractRepresentationalFigurativeAllegoricalAllusiveSuggestiveMeaningfulmetaphorical

Symbols are often visual and can have many interpretations (subjective)

Symbols are often repeated (motifs)

Symbols relate to theme• Think about the great number of symbols we

are surrounded by in everyday life.

• identify 5 common symbols and/or archetypes

• Discuss the connotative meaning of the symbols

Practice/Discuss

How is allegory defined and used in the visual arts? Allegorical painting and sculpture were

particularly popular in European art during the Renaissance and Baroque periods

often depict and personify broad, sweeping, and abstract themes, such as The Arts or Vices and Virtues.

Identifying symbols1. List all of the objects and symbols

and archetypes in the following paintings

2. Try and determine the allegory

François BoucherAllegory of Painting, 1765Samuel H. Kress Collection1946.7.1

François BoucherAllegory of Music, 1764Samuel H. Kress Collection1946.7.2

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulous)

Mary Magdalene in Penitence

1577oil on canvas

Thomas Cole: American Artist 1801-1848:

Pre Viewing questions:

Which objects or figures appear in all of the paintings?

Which objects or figures only appear in one of the paintings?

What is the overall theme that runs through all of these paintings?

Explain your answer, citing evidence from the painting

Thomas ColeThe Voyage of Life: Childhood, 1842Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund1971.16.1

What details in this painting point to a specific time of life?

Confidently assuming control of his destiny and oblivious to the dangers that await him, the voyager boldly strives to reach an aerial castle, emblematic of the daydreams of "Youth" and its aspirations for glory and fame.

Thomas ColeThe Voyage of Life: Youth, 1842Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund1971.16.2

Why do you think that the figure is shown on a river?

Thomas ColeThe Voyage of Life: Manhood, 1842Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund1971.16.3

What, besides the age of the figure tells you what stage of maturity is represented by this painting?

As the traveler approaches his goal, the ever–more–turbulent stream deviates from its course and relentlessly carries him toward the next picture in the series, where nature's fury, evil demons, and self–doubt will threaten his very existence. Only prayer, Cole suggests, can save the voyager from a dark and tragic fate.

Thomas ColeThe Voyage of Life: Old Age, 1842Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund1971.16.4

How does this painting convey the idea of a specific time in the life of man?

The Voyage of Life: Possible interpretations

Age and Maturity

The Christian doctrine of death and resurrection.

A personification of America, itself at an adolescent stage of development. The artist may have been issuing a dire warning to those caught

up in the feverish quest for Manifest Destiny: that unbridled westward expansion and industrialization would have tragic consequences for both man and nature.

Allegory is an extended metaphor

a story in which characters, setting, and actions stand for something beyond themselves, such as:

• abstract ideas• moral qualities• historical figures

or events

Allegory