How to Read the Coded Language of Allegory In Art
Learn to Look at Art, Part 7
The word allegory comes from the Latin allegoria, which derives from Greek meaning “veiled language”. Allegory in art often works by concealing deeper meanings within apparently straightforward images.
Take this striking 17th-century painting by the French artist Laurent de La Hyre (1606–56), hanging in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the surface, it shows a woman holding a theorbo, a large lute-like instrument. She is depicted half-length and dressed in the classical drapery of ancient Rome, all’ antica (in the manner of the ancients).
The setting invites closer attention: fluted columns rise behind her, evoking an antique world — perhaps a temple, certainly somewhere of significance, signalling that the painting is doing more than depicting a musician. It is trying to tell us something.
One further detail to note is the revealing nature of her dress: a woman with a single bared breast (sometimes both) is a signal that the figure represents an abstract idea and in whom we can read a life lesson.
But what is this lesson?