Open AccessElucidating the Visual Language of the Venus Table in the Dresden Codex: A Visual Semiotics Approach
Author(s) -
Margarita Juárez Nájera,
Mariana Castellanos
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
estudios de cultura maya
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.226
H-Index - 6
eISSN - 2448-5179
pISSN - 0185-2574
DOI - 10.19130/iifl.ecm.2020.56.2.0004
Subject(s) - semiotics , painting , venus , visual language , interpretation (philosophy) , visual semiotics , maya , table (database) , art history , style (visual arts) , art , saint , linguistics , computer science , visual arts , philosophy , epistemology , astrobiology , physics , data mining
The visual language of the paintings has undergone a theoretical and pragmatic process, which is different than that of textual linguistics. In this paper we propose a method of analysis based on semiotics to elucidate and compare the visual response of six paintings of the pre-Columbian Maya Dresden Codex. The Venus table was chosen because it presents a calendrical-astronomical message through a visual language that makes its interpretation complex. We consider that the visual semiotics of the Quebec School represented by Saint-Martin and Shannon´s entropic comparison of the Venus table paintings may be applied to both classical and contemporary pictorial works to support the work of art historians.