Bird Symbolism in Italian Devotional Paintings from the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Century

Author

Sarah PoisnerFollow

Degree Type

Honors Capstone Project

Date of Submission

Spring 5-1-2018

Capstone Advisor

Sally Cornelison

Honors Reader

Wayne Franits

Capstone Major

Art and Music Histories

Capstone College

Arts and Science

Audio/Visual Component

no

Capstone Prize Winner

no

Won Capstone Funding

no

Honors Categories

Humanities

Subject Categories

Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture | Arts and Humanities | History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology | Painting

Abstract

Madonna and Child images represent a significant portion of the paintings produced during the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Beginning in the thirteenth century, Italian painters began to embed symbolic birds into these works to create further points of reference and significance. This paper will examine the long history of bird symbolism and why Christian artists used different species of birds to create specific meanings. Hundreds of Madonna and Child paintings which include a bird were made between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, but there has been no in-depth analysis of this motif in over seventy years. Since the publication of Herbert Friedmann’s book The Symbolic Goldfinch: Its History and Significance in Devotional Art, scholars have made generalizations about avian symbolism and have not fully recognized the individual and intricate connotations that each bird suggests. This study presents details on the origins and development of birds within Madonna and Child paintings in order to understand the significance of the different species in the following four paintings: the Orsanmichele Madonna and Child with Angels of 1346-1347 by Bernardo Daddi, the Madonna of the Quail of 1420 by Pisanello, the Madonna Litta of 1490, which is associated with Leonardo da Vinci, and the Madonna of the Swallow of 1620, which is associated with Guercino. An analysis of these works provides insight, that is currently lacking, on how artists created distinct meanings through avian forms and how they symbolized the natural world.

Recommended Citation

Poisner, Sarah, "Bird Symbolism in Italian Devotional Paintings from the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Century" (2018). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 1291.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/1291

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.