Personifications & symbols

At the end of the eighteenth century the well-known engravers H.F. Gravelot and C.N. Cochin compiled the four-volume "Iconologie par figures", comprising illustrations of hundreds of personifications and their attributes. This encyclopedic work, enjoyed tremendous success and served artists as a standard source-book of allegorical motifs until well into the nineteenth century. Lels has taken the "Iconologie" to create a new, comprehensive and easy-to-search lexicon of personifications and symbols, as a modern day reader would want it. The index allows the contemporary viewer to interpret art and artifacts, starting with the attributes. It offers a clear alphabetical list of the attributes associated with Gravelot and Cochins 400 personifications, together with a pictorial overview to make searching even easier.