For its author, Lucia Impelluso, this guidebook's main objective is “to give back to the flora and fauna that sense of wonderment, that taste of symbolic language that for so long was part and parcel of humanistic culture” (p. 9). Nature and Its Symbols aims to find a happy medium between the science and art of the natural world as it is depicted in paintings, sculpture and other works of art. As part of the Guide to Imagery series, the book points out that “what looks like a simple still life can hide an extraordinarily rich language, where every single fruit, flower, or animal is charged with a specific, characteristic significance” (p. 9).
Structurally, the guide's chapters address various natural subjects including Plants, Flowers, Fruits, Land Animals, Flying Animals, Aquatic Animals, and Creatures of The Imagination, in addition to an Introduction, a General Index, and an Index of Artists whose works are included in the book. What sets this kind of resource apart from others like it is the depth of information each chapter provides the reader. The first page of each entry summarizes information that highlights key aspects of the subject's significance in art, factoids about the subject, including, where relevant, Mythic Origins, Meaning(s), Episodes & Characters, and/or Sources, and a unique graphic delineating each chapter, such as a rabbit for the Land Animals section. The remaining space of each entry centres on works of art that demonstrate how various symbols of nature are used by artists, rich colour reproductions accompanied by brief explanations of the object's symbolism, both the featured object of the entry as well as other objects found in other chapters that happen to be included in the work of art at hand.
Overall, the guide's presentation and contents are informative and eye‐catching. The one drawback I find, and it is minor, is that the resource may confuse some users who see examples of artwork that discuss more than just the symbol of the entry. I understand the author's intention in setting up each object's layout this way, enabling more information and education to be included in the guide, but the intention might not be immediately apparent to beginning art students or historians, who may be using the book to learn primarily about a specific symbol, rather than multiple ones. The only other confusion may come from the assumption that all the artwork featured in this guide is owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum, which is not the case, and is not made clear in the resource's text. Also, the book needs to be clearer that it is meant to be used as an educational tool, not as a gallery guide to be used when visiting the Getty Museum.
Nature and Its Symbols would be a good resource for academic and public library reference collections and a fine addition to school libraries for the use by art history class assignments. Also, libraries specializing in art history, natural sciences and other related areas would benefit from having this guide in their collections.
