Thank you both for your responses.
Sometimes, the background will give the answers, and sometimes, you are just supposed to wonder about it and come to your own conclusions, I believe.
Do either of you (or anyone else) know of a book, or probably a series of books that have not only the pictures, but an explanation of what's going on in them? I have several art books, but the texts always seem to give insight into what was going on in the artist's development rather than what's in the picture.
Owl_Eagle
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
Actually, I know a very good book and meant to recommend it in the previous post. It is by Patrick de Rynck and is called How to read a painting: Lessons from the Old Masters. There are many details in there and explanations of symbolism, odd myths, etc. Some of the Dutch paintings are a bit obscure, but I expect amny of our American paintings would seem obscure to a Dutch author.
I have some great ideas on how to write a similar book for abstract art, but I'm still searching for the right publisher.
I grew up reading the Time-Life series of books on famous authors, which in my memory from way back, seemed to explain a lot.
You might want to go to a college bookstore and see what books they are using for their art appreciation course as well.
I do recommend, if you don't have them yet, a copy of Bulfinch's Mythology, including the Age of Fable, because that's a great place to look up a lot of the background stories from myth and legend.
I'm an art and literary junkie, but not up to date on who's good for art reference. But literary reference, come and ask!