To one degree or another, art is always an allegory. One of the ways of allegory in art, very economical and capacious, is allegory. The role of a symbol is played by a single entity (sign, property, object, phenomenon, action). An allegory, unlike a symbol, is always a narrative. The simplest example of an allegory is a fable.
Let's begin our analysis of the use of allegory in the fine arts with sculpture.
A striking example of allegory in sculpture is “The Bronze Horseman” in St. Petersburg. This is one of the best among the many sculptures that adorn the streets and squares of different cities around the world. The huge granite block that serves as the sculpture’s pedestal is given the shape of a sea wave. She is a symbol of natural elements. Peter I built the city of Petersburg on the muddy banks of the Neva River, where, it seemed, the elements could not be overcome and, of course, cities could not be built. But Peter I on horseback is depicted by the sculptor on the crest of a wave and, as if indicating with an imperative gesture: there will be a city here. The snake, crushed by the hooves of a horse, symbolizes those difficulties, those obstacles, those hostile forces that Peter I had to face and which he defeated at the founding of St. Petersburg and in general in all his state activities.
The main idea of the monument was superbly expressed by A. S. Pushkin:
O mighty lord of fate!
Aren't you above the very abyss,
At the height, with an iron bridle
Raised Russia on its hind legs?
The rearing horse is likened by the poet to Russia, agitated by Peter’s reforms. The figure of Peter I “on a loudly galloping horse”, trampling a snake and flying up onto the crest of a granite wave - all this is an allegory telling about the activities of Peter I. He is both a conqueror of the elements and a transformer of Russia (“...he raised Russia on its hind legs.. ."), and the conqueror of enemies, especially external enemies, who hindered the development of Russia, not giving access to the Baltic.
The considered allegory of Falcone clearly shows that symbols are an integral part of the allegory, its integral part.
Another example of allegory in sculpture is Michelangelo’s slave figures: “The Rising Slave” and “The Dying Slave.” These “slaves” are also called “captives” by many, and the sculptures are given very different interpretations - for some they are a symbol of fettered and enslaved arts, for Vasari they are a symbol of the provinces that found themselves under the rule of Pope Julius II, for others they are a symbolic image of the enemies defeated by the pope. But I am convinced that Michelangelo, as a deeply religious man, expressed in these works not political views, but the Gospel teaching about the primacy of the spirit over the flesh. After all, the tomb was intended for Pope Julius II, the head of the entire Catholic Church. According to the plan, the tomb was supposed to have 40 sculptures, including statues of St. Paul, the prophet Moses, Leah and Rachel, as well as numerous slaves. The whole plan was imbued with religious pathos. But by the will of the customers, work on the giant tomb was abandoned. Instead, Michelangelo created a modest tombstone, in comparison with the original plan, in which sculptures of Moses, Leah and Rachel remained.
For the tomb of Julius II, Michelangelo made several figures of slaves, but of these only the “Rising Slave” and “The Dying Slave” were completed.
Understanding these sculptures requires some knowledge of Scripture. What is the "Rising Slave"? First of all, one should not take the word slave literally in its modern meaning, like a serf or a slave in the ancient world. Every person is called a slave in the Holy Scriptures. We are all servants of God. And there is no offensive or humiliating meaning in this, we are simply people who need to do the will of God, to serve Him.
The holy elder Simeon, who had a revelation that he would not die until he saw the living God, met the baby Christ at the gates of the Jerusalem Temple and recognized Him as God incarnate, took Him in his arms, blessed him and uttered the words that became the beginning of the prayer: “Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all nations...” (Luke 2:29-31).
Saint Simeon, a revered free resident of Jerusalem, calls himself a servant of the Lord his God.
Turning to God with a prayer for his deceased parents, a Christian says: “Give rest, O Lord, to the souls of your departed servants, my parents (hereinafter referred to as their names)...” When uttering these words, no one thinks that his deceased parents were actually slaves .
It is God's servants, that is, people in general as such, that Michelangelo's sculptures represent. And, of course, one cannot understand the word “rebel” in its modern meaning as participating in an uprising against state power, against the oppressors. Risen means awakened from spiritual sleep, perked up in spirit. The prayer to the Most Holy Trinity begins like this: “Rising from sleep, I thank Thee, Holy Trinity...” And the call of A. S. Pushkin is in the ode “Liberty”: “Arise, fallen slaves!” - not at all an appeal to an armed uprising. This is a call to awaken from spiritual sleep, to perk up.
In both the sculpture "The Rebellious Slave" and the sculpture "The Dying Slave" the slaves are bound with shackles. Fetters are also a symbolic image. Fetters are the fetters of life that destroy our souls. Tyutchev calls them “murderous worries” (see his poem “When in the circle of murderous worries...”).
But here is what we read from Heine about the chains and fetters that bind our souls and hinder our spiritual growth:
Almost every gallery
There is a picture where the hero
Rushing into battle quickly,
He raised his shield above his head.
But the cupids stole
The sword of a gloomy fighter
And a garland of roses and lilies
They surrounded the young man.
Chains of grief, fetters of happiness
They force me too
Remain without participation
To the battles of today.
Fetters mean those little things in life and our passions that hinder the development of the soul: these are the fetters of greed, envy, the worries of vanity, and worries about daily bread. A person has many fetters, he is all in fetters.
Michelangelo, in the image of the “Rebel Slave,” expressed the idea: in order to remain human, you need to break away from everyday shackles, you cannot succumb to them. This is what the rebel slave Michelangelo does. He knows the law of spiritual life, briefly and powerfully expressed in the Gospel (Matthew 11:12): “The kingdom of heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it by force.” The young L.N. Tolstoy speaks about this in a letter to A.A. Tolstoy, his cousin: “To live honestly, you have to rush, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and quit, and start again and quit again, and forever to fight and be deprived. And peace is spiritual meanness.”
The rebel slave Michelangelo rested his foot on some protrusion, tensed his whole body, all his muscles were sharply defined, and his face and gaze were directed to the sky, upward, to the mountainous limits where his soul was striving. He lives as he should live, breaking the petty, but soul-killing shackles of everyday petty worries.
Now let's turn to Michelangelo's The Dying Slave. It is considered to be one of the most perfect depictions of the male body in sculpture. The young man is depicted dying. His whole body went limp, his head drooped, his eyes closed, his legs weakened. His soul leaves him. The bonds that bound his body overpowered him; he was unable to resist these bonds, and his spiritual death occurred. When the soul dies, then the person is no longer alive. No wonder there is an expression - “a living corpse”. If you look at the face of a dying slave, you can see that the spirit is leaving him, the thought is leaving him. What goes away is what constitutes the essence of a person. At the feet of the dying man is a monkey, which in Christian symbolism means sin, or rather various sins: vanity, love of luxury, frivolity, lust and others. This monkey explains exactly what fetters destroyed this slave and destroy all others subject to these vices, explains to us what the dying slave valued and loved during his life, what he sought, what he strove for and how he violated his immortal soul.
Michelangelo knew how to depict a dying or just deceased person with such amazing skill that evil tongues and envious people started a rumor that Michelangelo supposedly killed the sitter in order to observe and then capture the dying process in sculpture. Salieri speaks to himself about this this way (in Pushkin’s tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”), objecting to Mozart’s remark that genius and villainy are not compatible:
...is he right?
And I'm not a genius? Genius and villainy
Two things are incompatible. Not true:
And Bonarotti? or is it a fairy tale
Dumb, senseless crowd - and was not
The creator of the Vatican was a murderer?
Pushkin's Salieri believed the vile legend of Michelangelo's crime.
So, when the viewer understands in what meaning the word slave is used, what the fetters and monkey at the feet of a dying slave symbolize, he will understand the content of Michelangelo’s allegory. The sculptures seem to become more beautiful, since their beauty is inspired by thought, and perhaps the viewer will have thoughts about the meaning of life, and he will think about his mortal existence. After all, this is exactly what Michelangelo thought about when creating these sculptures. It was this idea (how to live, always remaining human) that inspired him, and he sought to embody this idea. In general, Michelangelo created images mainly of strong people who know how to break fetters, spiritual, active people who know how to overcome obstacles. And obstacles in the form of small, everyday, often far-fetched fetters are the most terrible. The oppressive pettiness of everyday life is worse than any cataclysm and most often eats up the human soul. No wonder A.P. Chekhov wrote that he was “terrified of everyday life.”
It is necessary to note, concluding the conversation about Michelangelo’s “Slaves,” another amazing detail that further develops the artist’s thoughts expressed in the sculptures. "The Dying Slave" is polished to a gloss, while "The Risen Slave" seems to be a work in progress: there is no final polishing of the marble; On the face, especially on the cheekbones and on the cheek, the master left clear traces of a chisel. And this was done deliberately. For what? But the fact is that in this way Michelangelo was able to convey in stone the idea of the incompleteness of the life process, of the incompleteness of the fate of his hero. The “rebellious slave” lives, that is, he fights, resists, suffers and suffers, he strives upward, towards the spiritual and divine. He is in the process of formation, development, formation of his personality, he has to change and improve. That is why this sculpture was left without final finishing, with traces of a chisel.
On the contrary, life has left the “Dying Slave”; there is no resistance or suffering in it, which means there are no impulses towards the spiritual. His destiny was over. He is forever only what he is, he cannot be anything else. And this cessation of the life process, this death of the soul is perfectly conveyed by the completeness of the marble processing: the shiny smooth surface of the stone gives the impression of a dead and cold body.
Let us turn to allegory in painting.
In "Spring" Venetian's allegory is very naturally veiled in an everyday scene. A peasant girl leading horses by the bridle is an allegory of spring. She is taller than horses. She steps very lightly, barely touching the ground. She almost hovers above the ground, both arms slightly apart, as if in easy flight. Both the child in the clearing and the young trees are symbols of birth, renewal, and the arrival of new life. All this tells us that with spring comes new life, new worries and joys - and this is wonderful! And spring for a peasant is associated with sowing, with work on arable land, and Venetsianov very cleverly and tactfully connected the time of spring labor activity of a person on earth with the idea of eternal renewal of life. A beautiful picture, all permeated with the sun, a feeling of happiness, the joy of life and work.
In Western European painting, allegory is found in the works of a variety of great artists: Bellini, Botticelli, Giorgione, Raphael, Titian, Bruegel, Rubens, Brouwer, Vermeer, Poussin 1. And this is quite understandable. Typically, each of the symbols contained in an allegory contains a detailed thought. Taken together, the symbols, subordinated to the author’s single plan, create an allegory rich in content. Therefore, allegory allows you to express a complex, multifaceted thought even in a laconic work, and to express a lot in a small way.
In addition, the allegory and encrypted nature of the allegory allowed artists to express political ideas, often dangerous. The allegorical language of the allegory was understandable to educated contemporaries.
But the use of allegory requires tact from the artist and adherence to proportion. Overloaded with symbols and divorced from realistic images, the allegory loses its aesthetic value, becoming a bare, lifeless abstraction. Such, for example, is “Allegory” by Lorenzo Lotto from the Washington National Gallery. On the contrary, among the great artists of the 17th century: Velazquez, Louis Le Nain, Vermeer, allegory is often hidden in simple scenes from everyday life.
Giovanni Bellini's painting "The Sacred Allegory" expresses Catholic teaching about the essence of the Christian church 2.
In the foreground of the picture there is an area surrounded by a fence. It is a symbol of a sacred place, a spiritual center, which is exactly what the church is. The fence gate is open inward. An open gate means a transition to another state, a transition from one world to another. This is a direct reference to the words of Christ: “I am the door: whoever enters through Me will be saved” (John 10:9). The Virgin Mary is depicted enthroned under a canopy and without the Christ Child. And this image of her symbolizes the Church, ruling “over the human race in all its inexhaustible wisdom” 3. In the center of the site there is an apple tree, from which babies shake and collect apples. Apples depicted next to the Mother of God mean salvation. Naked babies symbolize human souls that the church saves from sin.
The saints located inside the fence symbolize the spiritual qualities that the church possesses and thanks to which it has a beneficial effect on the flock, strengthening its faith. Saint Catherine of Alexandria wearing a crown is the personification of wisdom. She was sometimes depicted with Catherine of Siena, who in this case personified holiness 4 . It is possible that it is Catherine of Siena who is depicted in white clothes and a black cape. Saint Job is a symbol of faith, hope in the Savior, Saint Sebastian is the embodiment of perseverance in faith. Both saints are presented naked, which means renunciation of earthly goods for the sake of serving God.
On the other side of the fence we see the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul, armed with a sword and with a scroll in their hand. The Apostle Peter, the first pope, and Paul, the author of the 14 epistles in the New Testament, are the main defenders and guardians of the Christian faith. Outside the fence, an opponent of the true Christian faith is depicted - a Muslim in a turban, towards whom the sword of the Apostle Paul is pointed.
Moreover, when these apostles are depicted together, “they symbolize the Jewish and pagan elements of the Church” 5 - the origins of Christianity. "Peter symbolizes the original Jewish element, Paul - the pagan" 6. In the background, behind the lake, against the background of houses, scenes from the Old Testament are depicted. On the right on the rock we see a cross - a symbol of the Christian faith, and under the rock - a centaur, symbolizing paganism and heresy. This is reminiscent of the time of early Christianity. In short, on the other side of the lake the origins and history of the emergence of Christianity are symbolically depicted.
The whole picture is imbued with a mood of contemplation, peace, which is created not only by the calmness of all the characters, but also by the mirror-like surface of the water, symbolizing introspection, reflection and revelation, and this is what also strengthens people in faith.
The use of allegory allowed Bellini to combine reflections on the church with a depiction of the political life of 15th-century Venice. The political implications of the “Sacred Allegory” are described in detail in the article by I. A. Smirnova “The Sacred Allegory” by Giovanni Bellini 7 .
Let us turn to Botticelli's painting "Pallas and the Centaur". The general mood evoked by the painting is contemplative and melancholy. A contemplative mood creates a calm, peaceful landscape. But the characters in the picture: both Pallas and the centaur give the impression of sadness; their gestures are sluggish and slow; their faces are sad, especially those of the centaur, who is a symbol of base, animal nature, brute force, and revenge. According to the teachings of humanists, Pallas is a symbol of a contemplative lifestyle and wisdom28. Wisdom manifests itself primarily in overcoming passions and self-improvement. But the victory over the centaur (victory over passions) causes Pallas sadness, and not satisfaction that she has gained the upper hand. To the right of Pallas, behind her, a fence is visible that separates the foreground of the picture from the background. One of the symbolic meanings of a fenced off place is the inner life of the mind. Botticelli depicts the inner struggle of a person with his base passions. This struggle is always difficult and painful, it is endless, since passions are an integral property of man. By mastering his passions, a person not only deeply understands his sinful essence, but also becomes imbued with knowledge of the shortcomings and weaknesses of other people. His view of the world inevitably becomes sad. It is not for nothing that it is said: “In much wisdom there is much sorrow.” That is why Pallas, the goddess of wisdom, is sad.
Olive branches curl over the goddess's clothes - a symbol of peace and wisdom. In this context, they symbolize peace in the human soul, achieved by victory over the sinful aspirations of man. The church helps a person in the fight against passions and in achieving inner peace. In this picture, the symbol of the church is a ship sailing on the water surface.
Painted around the same time, Botticelli's famous painting "The Birth of Venus", located in the same Villa Castello as "Pallas and the Centaur", also reflects the Neoplatonists' teaching about the soul: the birth of Venus is the birth of beauty in the human soul.
“Pallas and the Centaur”, in addition to the general philosophical, has another topical, political subtext. The painting was intended for Giovanni Pierfrancesco de' Medici, and on Pallas's dress we see ornaments of gold rings with a cut diamond - the Medici emblem. Pallas is depicted not as a warrior in a helmet and with a shell, but as the goddess of peace and wisdom (Minerva-pacifica), entwined with olive branches. Olive branches and a spear are her attributes; they symbolize virtue. Pallas is depicted against the backdrop of a peaceful, calm landscape. The centaur has a bow in his hands and a quiver of arrows behind his back; in this case, the centaur symbolizes strife, discord. Strife is the source of wars and destruction, so the centaur is depicted against the background of either a collapsing rock or a collapsing structure.
The victory of Pallas over the centaur is the victory of the world over strife and the forces of destruction. In the context of the political life of Florence at that time, the painting glorifies the peace achieved through the wise rule of the Medici.
Most likely, the painting contains a reminder of the diplomatic visit of Lorenzo de' Medici to Naples, thanks to which the anti-Florentine coalition led by the pope disintegrated and peace was achieved 9 . In this context, the ship in the painting is a symbol of travel, a reminder of Lorenzo de' Medici's successful trip to Naples, and the bay is a sign of Naples.
In this painting, Botticelli skillfully uses the ambiguity of symbols.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder often resorted to allegory in his work. Consider his painting “Two Monkeys on a Chain.”
The picture creates a contradictory mood of both hopelessness and something bright and hopeful.
In the foreground are two monkeys sitting on a chain in the opening of a low arched window. The monkey is a symbol of sin, base instincts, drives: unbelief, shamelessness, lust, obscenity, vanity, frivolity. The symbolism of the nut shell scattered near the monkeys also speaks about the sin of frivolity and vanity. An empty nut shell is a symbol of an insignificant, “empty” person. Some art historians associate the image of a nut shell in this painting with the Dutch proverb “to be put on trial for a nut,” that is, to be punished for trifles, through frivolity.
Bruegel depicted two monkeys, and the number two, since it follows one (the symbol of the first principle, the creator), symbolizes sin, deviation from the original good.
Putting a monkey on a chain means overcoming sin, coping with base passions. This symbol was even used in heraldic art: a monkey on a chain was a sign that a knight needed to overcome the disturbances of passions in order to free his mind.
Outside the window we see a poetic, symbolic landscape. In the language of symbols, he tells us what the human soul achieves by freeing itself from sin, that is, by “chaining monkeys.” The ship symbolizes the church, which protects from temptation, helps a person to sail safely through the worldly sea of passions and achieve salvation. Birds soaring in the heights are a symbol of saved souls, the personification of spiritual aspirations and heights of spirit. And, finally, the city is the center of spiritual life, a symbol of achieved mental order and spiritual maturity.
You can enter this ideal spiritual world only through the “narrow gate”, curbing base passions. It is not for nothing that the low, narrow window opening in the picture is shaped like an open gate.
Thus, Bruegel’s painting expresses the Christian teaching about the salvation of the soul by overcoming sinful passions.
Bruegel lived in the era of the Reformation, when questions of faith and Christian teaching occupied the minds of his contemporaries. And in this the picture was in tune with the era. Like many allegories, the painting also had political implications, revealed by Montballier 10.
In the considered paintings of Bellini, Botticelli and Bruegel, several layers of content and different levels of its perception are clearly visible. A visual, visible layer depicts a specific scene and creates an emotional mood. Behind it, thanks to the understanding of symbols, the second, general philosophical layer of the picture is revealed. And finally, the third layer opens, a topical political one, contemporary to the artist.
And each of these layers serves to reveal the idea of the painting.
All these three aspects of the content of the picture, embodying the artist’s plan, are found in many allegorical works. An allegory does not require a realistic plot or a real life environment. This provided ample opportunities for generalizations and allegories. Therefore, artists often used allegory to express, along with eternal truths, their attitude to topical problems.
Notes:
1. As already mentioned, interest in symbolism and emblems was greatest in the 17th century. The same century also saw the widespread use of allegory in painting.
E. I. Rotenberg writes in detail and convincingly about allegory, the reasons for its spread and the peculiarities of its application in Western European painting of the 17th century in his book “Western European Painting of the 17th Century. Thematic Principles” (Moscow, “Iskusstvo”, 1989).
Here is a short excerpt from this book:
“The sharp clash between ideal and reality in the art of the 17th century posed in all its severity the problem of searching for new principles of artistic generalization, which, in the conditions of this historical stage, could withstand the onslaught of living nature, the principles of direct, immediate reflection of reality. Allegory turned out to be one of these types of generalization. So in the 17th century it entered the phase of its greatest activation and the most complete disclosure of its imaginative resources.
But these successes became possible subject to some important changes in the content orientation and structural enrichment of the very form of allegory. Along with the desire to “nominalize” the image, to the triumph of an abstract idea in it, which has survived into this century, - along with all this, the mechanism of allegory, so to speak, includes a reverse move, revealing a tendency towards an active rapprochement of this genre with the real world and its phenomena. Moreover, in the work of a number of artists of this century, the specific qualities of allegory - seemingly contrary to their nature - become a tool in asserting the primacy of objective reality. First of all, this can be said about Rubens, but it is also symptomatic that allegory as a genre was paid tribute by such painters of “real vision” as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vermeer, not to mention the fact that in a number of cases individual allegorical motifs were used by these masters in their works as unique semantic accents and metaphorical associations."
E. I. Rotenberg. "Western European painting of the 17th century. Thematic principles." Publishing house "Art". M., 1989. Pp. 85–86.
2. The meaning of this difficult-to-understand allegory has long been controversial. I present for comparison other interpretations of the “Sacred Allegory”.
"The Sacred Allegory from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence also dates back to the period between 1490 and 1500. The meaning and plot of this composition are still an unresolved problem. For several decades, experts adhered to the interpretation proposed by Ludwig in 1902, according to which the painting illustrated the 14th-century French allegorical poem “The Pilgrimage of the Soul” by Guillaume de Deguilleville. This interpretation was, however, challenged by Rasmo in 1946; after him, other researchers put forward their hypotheses (Verdier, Braunfels, Robertson), each of which results in different datings of the painting. , fluctuating between the time of execution of the altarpiece from San Giobbe and the first years of the 16th century. In accordance with these assumptions, the painting was considered: a scene of the “Holy Conversation” (Rasmo); a complex allegorical image of the daughters of God - Compassion, Justice, Peace, Mercy (Verdier); a vision of Paradise (Braunfels) and, finally, a reflection on the mystery of the incarnation (Robertson)."
Mariolina Olivari. "Givanni Bellini" Translation from Italian by I. E. Pruss. "WORD/SLOVO". M., 1998. (GREAT MASTERS OF ITALIAN ART). Page 42.44.
3. James Hall. "Dictionary of plots and symbols in art." Translation from English and introductory article by Alexander Maykapar. M.: KRON-PRESS, 1996. Series "Academy". Page 187.
4. James Hall. "Dictionary of plots and symbols in art." Translation from English and introductory article by Alexander Maykapar. M.: KRON-PRESS, 1996. Series "Academy". Page 231.
5. James Hall. "Dictionary of plots and symbols in art." Translation from English and introductory article by Alexander Maykapar. M.: KRON-PRESS, 1996. Series "Academy". Page 427.
6. James Hall. "Dictionary of plots and symbols in art." Translation from English and introductory article by Alexander Maykapar. M.: KRON-PRESS, 1996. Series "Academy". Page 413.
7. "The Facets of Creativity": Collection of scientific articles. M.: "Progress-Tradition", 2003. Pp. 114–128.
8. I quote an excerpt from the work of the humanist philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) “Pallas, Juno and Venus signify the contemplative life, the active life and the life spent in pleasure,” written on February 15, 1490 and addressed to Lorenzo de’ Medici:
“No one with common sense will doubt that there are three ways of life - contemplative, active and filled with pleasure. Therefore, people choose three paths to achieve happiness, that is, wisdom, strength and pleasure. By the name of wisdom we mean study liberal arts and spending leisure time in pious meditations. By the name of power, we believe, is meant power in civil and military government, as well as the abundance of wealth, the radiance of glory and active virtue. And finally, we do not doubt that the concept of pleasure includes the pleasures of the five senses. , as well as neglect of labors and worries. So, the poets designated the first as Minerva, the second as Juno, and the third as Venus. These three goddesses challenged Paris for the golden apple, that is, the palm of primacy, having considered for themselves which of the three lives was more correct. everything leads to happiness, he finally stopped at pleasure and disdained wisdom and strength, unreasonably hoping for happiness, he deservedly found himself in distress.”
"Writings of Italian humanists of the Renaissance (XV century)". Edited by L. M. Bragina. "Moscow University Publishing House". M., 1985. Pp. 220. Translation by O. F. Kudryavtsev.
9. T. K. Kustodieva. "Sandro Botticelli". "Aurora", Leningrad, 1971. Pp. 46.
10. R. H. Mareynissen with the participation of P. Reifelare, P. Van Calster, A. V. F. M. Meji. "Bruegel". Translation from French - T. M. Kotelnikova. Russian book company "BIBLION". "BIBLIO GLOBUS", M., 2003. Pp. 203.
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The main way to depict an allegory is to generalize human concepts; representations are revealed in the images and behavior of animals, plants, mythological and fairy-tale characters, inanimate objects that acquire figurative meaning.
Obviously, allegory lacks the full plastic brightness and completeness of artistic creations, in which the concept and image completely coincide with each other and are produced inseparably by creative imagination, as if fused by nature. The allegory oscillates between a concept derived from reflection and its cunningly invented individual shell and, as a result of this half-heartedness, remains cold.
Allegory, corresponding to the rich imagery of the way of representing the Eastern peoples, occupies a prominent place in the art of the East. On the contrary, it is alien to the Greeks, given the wonderful ideality of their gods, understood and imagined in the form of living personalities. Allegory appears here only in Alexandrian times, when the natural formation of myths ceased and the influence of Eastern ideas became noticeable. Its dominance is more noticeable in Rome. But it dominated most of all the poetry and art of the Middle Ages from the end of the 13th century, at a time of ferment when the naive life of fantasy and the results of scholastic thinking mutually touch and, as far as possible, try to penetrate each other. So - with most troubadours, with Wolfram von Eschenbach, with Dante. "Feuerdank", a 16th-century Greek poem that describes the life of Emperor Maximilian, may serve as an example of allegorical-epic poetry.
Allegory has a special use in animal epic. It is very natural that different arts have significantly different relationships to allegory. It is most difficult for modern sculpture to avoid. Always doomed to depict a personality, it is often forced to give as allegorical isolation what Greek sculpture could give in the form of an individual and complete image of the life of a god.
For example, John Bunyan’s novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress to the Heavenly Land” and Vladimir Vysotsky’s song “Truth and Lies” are written in the form of an allegory.
see also
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- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
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2010.:Synonyms
See what “Allegory” is in other dictionaries: - (Greek allegory) expression of an abstract object (concept, judgment) through a concrete (image). So. arr. The difference between A. and related forms of figurative expression (tropes (see)) is the presence in it of specific symbolism, subject to ... ...
Literary encyclopedia - (from the Greek allegoria), in art the embodiment of a phenomenon, as well as a speculative idea in a visual image (for example, a figure with a dove in his hand is an allegory of Peace; a woman with a blindfold and scales in her hand is an allegory of Justice). By… …
Art encyclopedia - (Greek allegoria, from all egorein to say something else). Allegory, i.e. the transfer by similarity of a thought or a whole series of thoughts from its own meaning to an improper one, as well as the replacement of abstract concepts with concrete ideas.... ...
Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language- ALLEGORY (Greek αλληγορια, allegory) expression of the abstract, abstract content of a thought (concept, judgment) through a concrete (image), for example, the image of death in the form of a skeleton with a scythe, justice in the image of a woman with knotted hair... ... Dictionary of literary terms
See hint... Synonym dictionary
Allegory. The lack of clarity in the definition of the concept of “lexical meaning of a word” has a very difficult effect on the practice of dictionary work. Every explanatory dictionary misses hundreds, if not thousands of living meanings of words and invents many... ... History of words
- (Greek allegory), a conventional form of utterance, in which a visual image means something “other” than it itself is, its content remains external to it, and it is unambiguously assigned to it by cultural tradition. The concept of A. is close to... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language- Allegory ♦ Allegorie The expression of an idea through an image or oral story. Allegory is the opposite of abstraction; it is a kind of thought that has taken on flesh. From a philosophical point of view, an allegory cannot serve as proof of anything. AND … Sponville's Philosophical Dictionary
- (Greek allegoria), depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. The meaning of an allegory, in contrast to a polysemantic symbol, is unambiguous and separated from the image; the connection between meaning and image is established by similarity (lion... ... Modern encyclopedia
- (Greek allegoria) depiction of an abstract idea (concept) through an image. The meaning of an allegory, in contrast to a polysemantic symbol, is unambiguous and separated from the image; the connection between meaning and image is established by similarity (lion strength, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- [ale], allegories, female. (Greek allegoria). 1. Allegory, visual, pictorial expression of abstract concepts through a concrete image (lit.). This poem is full of allegories. 2. only units. Allegorical meaning, allegorical meaning. In... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
, moralize . It arose on the basis of mythology, was reflected in folklore and was developed in the fine arts. The main way to depict an allegory is to generalize human concepts; representations are revealed in the images and behavior of animals, plants, mythological and fairy-tale characters, and inanimate objects that receive figurative meaning.
Obviously, allegory lacks the full plastic brightness and completeness of artistic creations, in which the concept and image completely coincide with each other and are produced inseparably by creative imagination, as if fused by nature. The allegory oscillates between a concept derived from reflection and its cunningly invented individual shell and, as a result of this half-heartedness, remains cold.
Allegory, corresponding to the rich imagery of the way of representing the Eastern peoples, occupies a prominent place in the art of the East. On the contrary, it is alien to the Greeks, given the wonderful ideality of their gods, understood and imagined in the form of living personalities. Allegory appears here only in Alexandrian times, when the natural formation of myths ceased and the influence of Eastern ideas became noticeable. Its dominance is more noticeable in Rome. But it dominated most of all the poetry and art of the Middle Ages from the end of the 13th century, at a time of ferment when the naive life of fantasy and the results of scholastic thinking mutually touch and, as far as possible, try to penetrate each other. So - with most troubadours, with Wolfram von Eschenbach, with Dante. "Feuerdank", a 16th-century Greek poem that describes the life of Emperor Maximilian, may serve as an example of allegorical-epic poetry.
Allegory has a special use in animal epic. It is very natural that different arts have significantly different relationships to allegory. It is most difficult for modern sculpture to avoid. Always doomed to depict a personality, it is often forced to give as allegorical isolation what Greek sculpture could give in the form of an individual and complete image of the life of a god.
For example, John Bunyan’s novel “The Pilgrim’s Progress to the Heavenly Land” and Vladimir Vysotsky’s parable “Truth and Lies” are written in the form of an allegory.
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- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
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Passage characterizing the Allegory
“Let’s go, Ivan Lukich,” he said to the company commander.“That’s how it is in French,” the soldiers in the chain spoke. - How about you, Sidorov!
Sidorov winked and, turning to the French, began to babble incomprehensible words often, often:
“Kari, mala, tafa, safi, muter, caska,” he babbled, trying to give expressive intonations to his voice.
- Go Go go! ha ha, ha, ha! Wow! Wow! - there was a roar of such healthy and cheerful laughter among the soldiers, which involuntarily communicated through the chain to the French, that after this it seemed necessary to unload the guns, detonate the charges and everyone should quickly go home.
But the guns remained loaded, the loopholes in the houses and fortifications looked forward just as menacingly, and just as before, the guns turned towards each other, removed from the limbers, remained.
Having traveled around the entire line of troops from the right to the left flank, Prince Andrei climbed to the battery from which, according to the headquarters officer, the entire field was visible. Here he dismounted from his horse and stopped at the outermost of the four cannons that had been removed from the limbers. In front of the guns walked the sentry artilleryman, who was stretched out in front of the officer, but at a sign made to him, he resumed his uniform, boring walk. Behind the guns there were limbers, and further back there was a hitching post and artillery fires. To the left, not far from the outermost gun, there was a new wicker hut, from which animated officer voices could be heard.
Indeed, from the battery there was a view of almost the entire location of the Russian troops and most of the enemy. Directly opposite the battery, on the horizon of the opposite hillock, the village of Shengraben was visible; to the left and to the right one could discern in three places, among the smoke of their fires, masses of French troops, of which, obviously, most of them were in the village itself and behind the mountain. To the left of the village, in the smoke, there seemed to be something similar to a battery, but it was impossible to get a good look at it with the naked eye. Our right flank was located on a rather steep hill, which dominated the French position. Our infantry was positioned along it, and the dragoons were visible at the very edge. In the center, where the Tushin battery was located, from which Prince Andrei viewed the position, there was the most gentle and straight descent and ascent to the stream that separated us from Shengraben. To the left, our troops adjoined the forest, where the fires of our infantry, chopping wood, were smoking. The French line was wider than ours, and it was clear that the French could easily get around us on both sides. Behind our position there was a steep and deep ravine, along which it was difficult for artillery and cavalry to retreat. Prince Andrei, leaning on the cannon and taking out his wallet, drew for himself a plan for the disposition of the troops. He wrote notes in pencil in two places, intending to communicate them to Bagration. He intended, firstly, to concentrate all the artillery in the center and, secondly, to transfer the cavalry back to the other side of the ravine. Prince Andrei, constantly being with the commander-in-chief, monitoring the movements of the masses and general orders and constantly engaged in historical descriptions of battles, and in this upcoming matter involuntarily thought about the future course of military operations only in general terms. He imagined only the following kind of major accidents: “If the enemy launches an attack on the right flank,” he said to himself, “the Kiev Grenadier and Podolsk Jaeger will have to hold their position until the reserves of the center approach them. In this case, the dragoons can hit the flank and overthrow them. In the event of an attack on the center, we place a central battery on this hill and, under its cover, pull together the left flank and retreat to the ravine in echelons,” he reasoned with himself...
All the time that he was on the battery at the gun, he, as often happens, without ceasing, heard the sounds of the voices of the officers speaking in the booth, but did not understand a single word of what they were saying. Suddenly the sound of voices from the booth struck him with such a sincere tone that he involuntarily began to listen.
Themis - an allegory of justice
Allegory is a means of allegory, artistic expression of ideas or concepts embedded in a specific image. By its nature, allegory is a rhetorical form, since it was originally aimed at conveying the hidden subtext of an expression through indirect descriptions.
The depiction of allegory occurs through the method of abstracting human concepts into personified images and objects. Thus, acquiring an abstract, figurative meaning, the allegorical image is generalized. The ideological concept is contemplated with the help of this image, for example, Themis characterizes justice, the fox characterizes cunning, etc.
Poetic allegory
A poetic allegory is the image of the “prophet” in A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Prophet” (1826), in which the true poet is laid down as a seer, the chosen one of God:
Arise, prophet, and see and listen,
Be fulfilled by my will,
And, bypassing the seas and lands,
Burn the hearts of people with the verb.
The emergence and development of allegory
The allegory, which arose from mythology, was widespread in folk art. Followers of Stoicism considered Homer the founder of allegory, Christian theologians considered the Bible. In ancient centuries, the allegorical tradition gained a significant foothold in the imagery-rich art of the East, Rome, and also in Greece under the influence of oriental ideas.
Allegory manifested itself most of all in the art of the Middle Ages from the end of the 13th century, when its rational basis was combined with symbol. The German art critic I. I. Winkelmann established the concept of “allegorical form” as a condition contributing to the creation of an ideal work of art. The allegory is directly related to the scientist’s aesthetic concept of “beautiful art,” based, in his words, not on rational “rules,” but on contemplation—“feelings taught by the mind.” The medieval allegorical tradition was continued by representatives of the art of Baroque and Classicism.
During the period of romanticism (XVIII-XIX centuries), allegory was combined with symbol, as a result of which the “allegory of the infinite” appeared - an allegorical representation formed on the basis of the concept of “conscious mysticism”, characteristic of the representatives of German romanticism F. Schlegel, F. Baader.
In the twentieth century, rationalism lost its leading position due to sophisticated psychologism and the deep artistic meaning of modern works, but allegory remained significant in literary genres that are allegorical moral stories: fables, parables, medieval morality plays; in the genre of science fiction, etc. Real geniuses in the use of allegory were Russian writers I. A. Krylov and M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, famous for their fables.
Since the twentieth century, the artistic device of allegory has been especially often used to express the hidden ideology of works of ironic or satirical literary genres, such as George Orwell’s satirical story-parable “Animal Farm” (1945).
The word allegory comes from Greek allegoria, which means allegory.
1 Russian State University for the Humanities / Faculty of Art History No. 4 (1-2012) A.S. Yakobidze-Gitman ALLEGORY AND ALLOGRAPHY: ON THE PROBLEM OF MUSICAL ALLEGORY Despite the fact that discussions about the metaphysical nature of music, which philosophers have been engaged in for centuries, are often allegorical in nature, the term “allegory” itself in relation to music is also used in philosophy, and in science it is extremely rare. This article shows that it is legitimate to speak about musical allegory as a conscious intention of the composer only in relation to written music. Most of the monuments of “allegorical music” date back to the 17th century, when neo-Pythagoreanism received a new round of development and theories connecting the most diverse phenomena of existence with various sign systems based on numerical proportions became widespread. Key words: Music of the 17th century ., allegory, musical semantics, Nelson Goodman’s theory of notation, symbolism of numbers, proportions, iconological analysis. » 2. Boethius’s theory of three types of music - world, human and instrumental, which inspired musical aesthetics for 1 The study was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), project A/10/86224 Shestakov, V.P. History of musical aesthetics from Antiquity to the 18th century. Ed. 3rd. – M.: LKI Publishing House, 2012. – P. 64-65 = = = “Artikult”: a scientific journal about culture and art of 2 many centuries, was also based on numerical proportions 3. The emergence of new European science was not an obstacle , but only a new impulse to rethink the isomorphism of music and the universe on a numerical basis - this is evidenced by “The Harmony of the World” by Johannes Kepler 4. Over time, the desire to free oneself from the fascination with the mysticism of numbers became more and more noticeable, but even then, one way or another, it was still about the isomorphism of the structure of music with the nature of man and even human society (can a structure not have proportions, and proportions be a numerical expression?). So, according to the French theorist of the 17th century. Maren Mersenne “the temperament of sounds necessary for the harmonious fusion of instruments, the combination of dissonances and consonances may suggest that in any republic some shortcomings are inevitable, for perfection is possible only in heaven, where God controls everything” 5. A Schopenhauer believed that “As the essence of man consists in the fact that his will strives, is satisfied and strives again - and so on continuously,<...>so, in accordance with this, the essence of melody is a constant deviation from the tonic,<...>and in the end there is always a return to the tonic; on all these paths, the melody expresses the diverse aspiration of the will...” 6. Today they prefer to talk about the metaphysical properties of music rather in a “detective” way: for example, about the mysterious Gospel symbols in Bach, Masonic ones in Mozart. But all the above statements, with all their diversity, have one thing in common: an allegorical view of music, a search for allegorical meanings in music. However, we practically never encounter the use of the term “allegory” in relation to music either among ancient or modern serious authors; There are very few scientific works devoted to the problems of musical allegory (exceptions are discussed below). Maybe the whole point is that allegories are only in the heads of philosophers (which is why they bashfully avoid this very term in relation to music), and the creators of music do not even think about them? And can allegorical meanings be intentionally inserted into musical works?
