Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Painted Mysteries: Interpreting Great Paintings

Painted Mysteries: Interpreting Great Paintings

Chapman, Caroline

Hardcover

Art HistoryIndividual Artists

Publisher Price: $42.95

ISBN10: 1917458290
ISBN13: 9781917458290
Publisher: Unicorn Publishing Group
Published: Apr 28 2026
Pages: 160
Weight: 1.94
Height: 0.81 Width: 8.31 Depth: 9.87
Language: English
In Painted Mysteries Caroline Chapman aims to encourage art lovers to look more deeply into pictures and to understand better what they see.

When looking at a painting of the Madonna with the Christ Child, do you know why Jesus is clutching a goldfinch? Or why a peacock often appears in paintings of the Annunciation? Can you use your knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology to interpret what is going on in Botticelli's Primavera? Are you so steeped in the Bible that you know why Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt? Past generations would have known the answers: religious belief and the mythology of antiquity permeated people's lives and decoding symbols within a painting was automatic.

Today we no longer have the background knowledge and the layers of meaning contained in some of the greatest works of art escapes us. Our gaze is superficial; recent research has shown that on average a visitor to an art gallery looks at a painting for less than two seconds, reads the label for ten seconds, glances again at the painting, then moves on. Even the Mona Lisa receives only about fifteen seconds of a viewer's attention.

In Painted Mysteries Caroline Chapman aims to encourage art lovers to look more deeply into pictures and to understand better what they see. In over 100 images, many of them famous masterpieces, she dissects the paintings, recounting the stories the artists were depicting and unravelling the layers of meaning that modern viewers may find elusive or mysterious.

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