Art History 101: Allegory
- Laura Thipphawong
- Mar 7
- 4 min read
This article was originally published with Arts Help
An allegory in art is an object or figure meant to symbolically embody the characteristics of a concept, thereby physically representing the abstract. Like a reverse metaphor, the subject is a stand-in for an idea, a feeling, or a state of mind: in literature, the writer might say youth is a sunny day; in art, the sunny day represents youth. By using a variety of symbols and semiotics to express one broad notion, allegories throughout art history have been meant to touch on a unified experience through a multitude of object associations, making philosophical or emotional concepts more easily recognizable.
Distinguished by highly subjective interpretations and illusive meanings that maintain an open-endedness to the discussions of the work, allegory in art separates itself from more specified styles of representational painting. Popularized in Western art from the early Renaissance to the Romantic era, allegorical art revolutionized the traditional tableau, employing conventional storytelling methods in art, such as gesture and iconography, to convey a more universal narrative. Like all tableaus, those of allegory depict a moment of high drama frozen in time, usually mid-action and with several interwoven symbols to illustrate a narrative. The allegorical tableau, however, is differentiated for its philosophical, personal, or fabulistic storytelling —unlike the history paintings of the Neoclassical era, in which signifiers were used to depict political or religious events. The ambiguity of visual storytelling in allegorical paintings is precisely the reason for their mass appeal. The insight offered through a strongly observant narrative or system of images touches on fundamental aspects of the human experience. The following are two examples of time-honoured allegory paintings from the Early Modern period, an era thought to be the height of figurative allegory in art.
Artemisia Gentileschi and the Allegory of Painting
Italian Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, perhaps the most famous female painter of her time, was well-known not only for her mastery of oil painting but also for the boldness of her content and her willingness to challenge the world of academic art.
During a period from 1638 to 1641, Gentileschi was invited by Charles I to live and work in London alongside her artist father, Orazio Gentileschi; it was there that she created one of the cardinal works of feminist art, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (1638-1639). Using the Iconologia, the societally agreed-upon reference guide to emblems and personifications, Gentileschi made use of her similar appearance to the allegory of Painting to create her double portrait, that of herself and of painting personified. Often used by artists when commissioned to paint portraits or allegorical paintings, the Iconologia describes Painting as “a beautiful woman, with full black hair, dishevelled, and twisted in various ways, with arched eyebrows that show imaginative thought, the mouth covered with a cloth tied behind her ears, with a chain of gold at her throat from which hangs a mask, and has written in front ‘imitation.’”
To conflate the image of oneself with the allegory of painting was something that her male counterparts, by iconographic definition, could never do, but Gentileschi’s portrait, as with much of her work, is not only audacious but exemplary for its level of sophistication. The subject is unglamorously depicted in the throes of painting; her apron covers her green dress, and she appears to be in mid-action, beginning to form an image on a primed canvas. The angle at which she leans into the frame may have required two or more mirrors propped up beside her for visual reference, as the anatomical degrees of this pose would require a great deal of skill to hone, even if using a model. The level of expertise with which the painting was created and the intense focus portrayed in the painting by the subject's actions embody art as a combination of skill and passion.
Pieter Bruegel the Younger and The Alchemist
A less personal and more didactic example of allegory is Pieter Bruegel the Younger’s masterpiece, The Alchemist (1600), a narrative scene allegorical of greed, and a painting based on the drawing of the same name by his father, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
The narrative here warns the viewer of the pitfalls or greed and the preoccupation with obtaining unearned wealth. The notion of alchemy had already been discredited by the time of this painting’s creation. Still, from the 15th to the 17th century, the supposed scientific practice of turning base metals into gold and silver was a commonly sought-after skill. Con artists often exploited the ongoing belief in its remote possibility, and this belief was the point of undoing for those intent on realizing alchemy's potential. In typical allegorical paintings of alchemy, a scientist or scholar sits at a lectern, indicating the amount of dedicated study needed to make alchemy possible. Breugel’s exceptionally detailed painting depicts a man sitting at a lectern, casting his hand toward the scene as a meta-reference to the narrative played out before both he and the viewer.
The man on the left sits at his makeshift laboratory, scientific tools and equipment haphazardly strewn across the table as he mixes elements into a bowl, trying to uncover the chemical recipe to produce the Philosopher’s Stone, which would make alchemy possible. His wife sits nearby, holding out her empty coin purse, indicating that every last piece of gold has been squandered in their attempts to achieve a shortcut to wealth. The children play unattended in the background, and the Fool, the apparent assistant to the would-be alchemist, blows air from a bellows onto a pot of coals, literally and figuratively feeding the flames. The prophetic vision of what is to come for this family occurs outside, as seen through the window. A family is portrayed begging for charity and being taken into a church or poorhouse. The narrative sequence of events here is similar to that of a folktale: a cautionary tale of greed, as represented by the Alchemist’s downfall.
Some more allegorical artworks:
