A handful of delightfully, lavishly assembled books offer options for thoughtful gifts this holiday season, starting with art historian Matthew Wilson's The Hidden Language of Symbols (Thames & Hudson), an illustrated legend to the emblems within great works of art throughout the centuries. That eagle almost blending into the chandelier in Johannes Vermeer's The Art of Painting (1666-1668)? It's an indication of the Dutch artist's deep-seated Catholicism. That bull in Picasso's Guernica? Its significance stems from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The signs are everywhere with this book as a guide.
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