Illustrated Architecture Dictionary ............................... Illustrated FURNITURE Glossary

Allegory

The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.

An art form, as a story, painting, or sculpture, in which the components have a symbolic, figurative meaning.

A visible symbol representing an abstract idea,

Examples:

• A character named Christian in a story
• Blindfolded figure with scales is an allegory of justice
• Donkey - the symbol of the Democratic Party
• Spread eagle  (an eagle with wings and legs spread) - symbol of the US
• Star of David (a six-pointed star formed from two equilateral triangles) - symbol of Judaism
  

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Examples from Buffalo architecture

• Illustration above:  Commerce  on Old County Hall
  
  
• Commerce, Agriculture, Justice and Mechanical Arts on Old County Hall
  
  
• Life in the Goodyear House
  
  
• Lady Justice  on S. Douglas Cornell House
  

Other examples:

• Painting, Sculpture, Architecture on Michelangelo's Tomb, Florence, Italy
  
  
• Day and Night, and Dawn and Dusk in the Medici Chapel, Basilica of San Lorenzo
  
  
• Patria/Homeland on the Panthéon, Paris, France
  

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Photos and their arrangement © 2020 Chuck LaChiusa
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