La Peinture Allégorique Au Grand Siècle

The allegoric symbols in the painting, codified in the Iconology by Cesare Ripa published in Rome in 1593 were very complex. During this era, artists and art lovers were experienced in the use of these symbols, some of them very simple, some others more precise and complicated. This line was forsaken and the comprehension of allegoric painting was so much lost, that when the history of art flew off in the 20th century, most of the authors renounced to penetrate these messages. After having listed, clarified and organized the symbols of Ripa's Iconology in the iconological dictionary published in 1999 in collaboration with Dominique Brême, Virginie Bar offers here an exhaustive and new interpretation of allegoric sets of the Great Century in Versailles, Lyon, Rennes and Dijon. The recent restauration of the Parliament in Rennes and the future one of the “Galerie des Glaces” in Versailles increase the interest of this book.