3.5 Theories and Interpretations of Early European and Colonial American Art

Iconography is the study of what images and symbols mean. Northern European paintings of the 1400s are full of ordinary objects that may carry religious meaning, an idea scholars call disguised symbolism. The trouble is that any detail can be over-read. Good interpretation shows evidence for a reading and admits where it's uncertain.

Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece) (workshop of Robert Campin; 1427–1432; oil on wood). A triptych has three panels. The angel Gabriel tells Mary she will bear Christ in a middle-class Flemish home. Lilies suggest purity, a just-snuffed candle may signal the divine arriving, and a tiny Christ carrying a cross glides in on rays of light. The donors kneel at the left; Joseph makes mousetraps at the right, which one scholar connected to a saying that the cross was the devil's mousetrap. 'Workshop' signals that several hands may have painted it.

The Arnolfini Portrait (Jan van Eyck; c. 1434; oil on wood). An Italian merchant and a woman stand in a room in Bruges. The convex mirror reflects two figures in the doorway, and an inscription above reads 'Jan van Eyck was here, 1434'. An influential reading argued it records a wedding, with the painter as witness, and treated the single lit candle, the dog and the shoes as symbols. Others see a betrothal, a display of wealth, or a memorial to a wife who had died. She isn't necessarily pregnant: the full dress was fashionable.

Birth of Venus (Sandro Botticelli; c. 1484–1486; tempera on canvas). Venus arrives on a shell, blown by wind gods, while a figure waits with a cloak. Her pose comes from an ancient statue type with arms covering her body. Large nude mythological paintings were rare then. One reading links it to Neoplatonism, a philosophy popular with Florentine humanists, in which earthly beauty leads the soul to divine love; others stress its poetic sources. Its first owner is uncertain.

Entombment of Christ (Jacopo da Pontormo; 1525–1528; oil on wood). Painted for a chapel altar in Florence. There is no tomb, no cross and almost no setting; figures in pink and blue float and twist. This style, Mannerism, rejects calm Renaissance balance. Scholars debate the subject: an entombment, a deposition from the cross, or a lamentation. Some argue Christ's body is offered toward the altar, like the bread of the Mass.

Las Meninas (Diego Velázquez; c. 1656; oil on canvas). The princess Margarita stands with her maids of honor (meninas), a dog and attendants, while Velázquez paints at a huge canvas. A mirror at the back reflects King Philip IV and Queen Mariana, who seem to stand where you stand. Is the subject the princess, the royal couple or painting itself? Many read it as Velázquez arguing that painting is an intellectual art; the red cross on his chest marks a knighthood he received later.

Woman Holding a Balance (Johannes Vermeer; c. 1664; oil on canvas). A woman holds an empty balance near pearls and gold, beneath a painting of the Last Judgment, when souls are weighed. A common reading is a lesson on moderation and judging one's life. Scholars debate whether she is pregnant.

Fruit and Insects (Rachel Ruysch; 1711; oil on wood). A still life is a painting of arranged objects. Ruysch, daughter of a famous scientist, was court painter in Düsseldorf. Ripe and rotting fruit, wheat, grapes and insects may be vanitas symbols, reminders that life passes. Others read wheat and grapes as bread and wine, or the painting as scientific observation.

Frontispiece of the Codex Mendoza (Viceroyalty of New Spain; c. 1541–1542; ink and color on paper). A frontispiece is a book's opening illustration. Indigenous painters made the codex for Spanish officials, with Spanish notes added. It shows the founding of Tenochtitlan: an eagle on a cactus on a stone, in a lake split into four parts by canals, surrounded by founders. Year signs border the page, and conquests appear below. It can be read as Mexica history in Mexica style or as a colonial record shaped for a Spanish king.