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...... Thus, in such works as Studies in Iconology: Humanistic Themes in the Art of the Renaissance, Panofsky was able to identify common symbols and icons found in the work of Michelangelo. [2] Without understanding the Neoplatonic symbolism that proliferates in Michelangelos tomb for the Medici brothers, we are stuck at the first level of understanding, as described above. The symbolism found in the depiction of the four times of day, for example, which Panofsky attributes to that periods conception of the four basic humors of human psychology, would have been readily decipherable by the layman in the Renaissance era, but today the decoding of such symbols requires specialist knowledge. Other symbols that proliferate in Western art such as the figures of Jesus and Mary remain firmly entrenched in our culture to the present day
The search for meaning in works of art continues to play a major role in our consideration of works of modern and contemporary art. At the same time, the symbols commonly deployed in more recent works of art tend to be more specific, and hence more abstract, than the religious symbols and figures commonly found in older works of art. For example, an

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