Iconography, as a branch ofart history, studies theidentification, description and interpretation of the content ofimages: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fromartistic style. The wordiconography comes from theGreekεἰκών ("image") andγράφειν ("to write" orto draw).
A secondary meaning (based on a non-standard translation of the Greek and Russian equivalent terms) is the production or study of the religious images, called "icons", in theByzantine andOrthodox Christian tradition. This usage is mostly found in works translated from languages such as Greek or Russian, with the correct term being "icon painting".
Inart history, "an iconography" may also mean a particular depiction of a subject in terms of the content of the image, such as the number of figures used, their placing and gestures. The term is also used in many academic fields other than art history, for examplesemiotics,media studies, and archaeology,[1] and in general usage, for the content of images, the typical depiction in images of a subject, and related senses.
Sometimes distinctions have been made betweeniconology andiconography,[2][3] although the definitions, and so the distinction made, varies. When referring to movies, genres are immediately recognizable through their iconography, motifs that become associated with a specific genre through repetition.[4]
Early Western writers who took special note of the content of images includeGiorgio Vasari, whoseRagionamenti interpreted the paintings in thePalazzo Vecchio inFlorence.Ragionamenti reassuringly demonstrates that such works were difficult to understand even for well-informed contemporaries. Lesser known, though it had informed poets, painters and sculptors for over two centuries after its 1593 publication, wasCesare Ripa'semblem bookIconologia.[5]Gian Pietro Bellori, a 17th-century biographer of artists of his own time, describes and analyses, not always correctly, many works.Lessing's study (1796) of the classical figureAmor with an inverted torch was an early attempt to use a study of a type of image to explain the culture it originated in, rather than the other way round.[6]
Iconography as an academic art historical discipline developed in the nineteenth century in the works of scholars such asAdolphe Napoleon Didron (1806–1867),Anton Heinrich Springer (1825–1891), andÉmile Mâle (1862–1954)[8] all specialists in Christian religious art, which was the main focus of study in this period, in which French scholars were especially prominent.[6] They looked back to earlier attempts to classify and organise subjects encyclopedically like Cesare Ripa andAnne Claude Philippe de Caylus'sRecueil d'antiquités égyptiennes, étrusques, grècques, romaines et gauloises as guides to understanding works of art, both religious and profane, in a more scientific manner than the popularaesthetic approach of the time.[8] These early contributions paved the way forencyclopedias, manuals, and other publications useful in identifying the content of art. Mâle'sl'Art religieux du XIIIe siècle en France (originally 1899, with revised editions) translated into English asThe Gothic Image, Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century has remained continuously in print.
In early twentieth-centuryGermany,Aby Warburg (1866–1929) and his followersFritz Saxl (1890–1948) andErwin Panofsky (1892–1968) elaborated the practice of identification and classification of motifs in images to using iconography as a means to understanding meaning.[8] Panofsky codified an influential approach to iconography in his 1939Studies in Iconology, where he defined it as "the branch of the history of art which concerns itself with the subject matter or meaning of works of art, as opposed to form,"[8] although the distinction he and other scholars drew between particular definitions of "iconography" (put simply, the identification of visual content) and "iconology" (the analysis of the meaning of that content), has not been generally accepted, though it is still used by some writers.[9]
In theUnited States, to which Panofsky immigrated in 1931, students such asFrederick Hartt, andMeyer Schapiro continued under his influence in the discipline.[8] In an influential article of 1942,Introduction to an "Iconography of Mediaeval Architecture",[10]Richard Krautheimer, a specialist on early medieval churches and another German émigré, extended iconographical analysis toarchitectural forms.
The period from 1940 can be seen as one where iconography was especially prominent in art history.[11] Whereas most iconographical scholarship remains highly dense and specialized, some analyses began to attract a much wider audience, for examplePanofsky's theory (now generally out of favour with specialists of that picture) that the writing on the rear wall in theArnolfini Portrait byJan van Eyck turned the painting into the record of a marriage contract.Holbein'sThe Ambassadors has been the subject of books for a general market with new theories as to its iconography,[12] and thebest-sellers ofDan Brown include theories, disowned by most art historians, on the iconography of works byLeonardo da Vinci.
The method oficonology, which had developed following the publications of Erwin Panofsky, has been critically discussed since the mid-1950s, in part also strongly (Otto Pächt,Svetlana Alpers). However, among the critics, no one has found a model of interpretation that could completely replace that of Panofsky.[13]
As regards the interpretation ofChristian art, that Panofsky researched throughout his life, the iconographic interest in texts as possible sources remains important, because the meaning ofChristian images andarchitecture is closely linked to the content ofbiblical,liturgical andtheological texts, which were usually considered authoritative by most patrons, artists and viewers.[14]
Technological advances allowed the building-up of huge collections of photographs, with an iconographic arrangement or index, which include those of theWarburg Institute and the Index of Medieval Art[15] (formerly Index of Christian Art) atPrinceton (which has made a specialism of iconography since its early days in America).[16] These are now being digitised and made available online, usually on a restricted basis.
With the arrival of computing, theIconclass system, a highly complex system for the classification of the content of images, with 40,000+ classification types, and 84,000 (14,000 unique) keywords, was developed in the Netherlands as a standard classification for recording collections, with the idea of assembling huge databases that will allow the retrieval of images featuring particular details, subjects or other common factors. For example, the Iconclass code "71H7131" is for the subject of "Bathsheba (alone) with David's letter", whereas "71" is the whole "Old Testament" and "71H" the "story ofDavid". A number of collections of different types have been classified using Iconclass, notably many types ofold master print, the collections of theGemäldegalerie, Berlin and the GermanMarburger Index. These are available, usually on-line or onDVD.[17][18] The system can also be used outside pure art history, for example on sites likeFlickr.[19]
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Religious images are used to some extent by all major religions, including bothIndian andAbrahamic faiths, and often contain highly complex iconography, which reflects centuries of accumulated tradition. Secular Western iconography later drew upon these themes.
Central to the iconography andhagiography ofIndian religions aremudra or gestures with specific meanings. Other features include theaureola andhalo, also found in Christian and Islamic art, and divine qualities and attributes represented byasana and ritual tools such as thedharmachakra,vajra,chhatra,sauwastika,phurba anddanda. The symbolic use of colour to denote theClassical Elements orMahabhuta and letters andbija syllables from sacred alphabetic scripts are other features. Under the influence oftantra art developed esoteric meanings, accessible only to initiates; this is an especially strong feature ofTibetan art. The art of Indian Religions esp. Hindus in its numerous sectoral divisions is governed by sacred texts called theAagama which describes the ratio and proportion of the icon, calledtaalmaana as well as mood of the central figure in a context. For example,Narasimha an incarnation ofVishnu though considered a wrathful deity but in few contexts is depicted in pacified mood.
Although iconic depictions of, or concentrating on, a single figure are the dominant type ofBuddhist image, large stonerelief orfresco narrative cycles of theLife of the Buddha, or tales of his previous lives, are found at major sites likeSarnath,Ajanta, andBorobudor, especially in earlier periods. Conversely, inHindu art, narrative scenes have become rather more common in recent centuries, especially inminiature paintings of the lives ofKrishna andRama.
Christian art features Christian iconography, prominently developed in themedieval era andrenaissance, and is a prominent aspect ofChristian media.[20][21]Aniconism was rejected withinChristian theology from the outset, and the development ofearly Christian art and architecture occurred within the first seven centuries afterJesus.[22][23] Small images in theCatacombs of Rome showorans figures, portraits of Christ and some saints, and a limited number of "abbreviated representations" of biblical episodes emphasizing deliverance. From the Constantinian period monumental art borrowed motifs from Roman Imperial imagery, classical Greek and Roman religion and popular art – the motif ofChrist in Majesty owes something to both Imperial portraits and depictions ofZeus. In theLate Antique period iconography began to be standardized, and to relate more closely toBiblical texts, although many gaps in thecanonical Gospel narratives were plugged with matter from theapocryphal gospels. Eventually, the Church would succeed in weeding most of these out, but some remain, like the ox and ass in theNativity of Christ.
After theperiod of Byzantine iconoclasm iconographical innovation was regarded as unhealthy, if not heretical, in the Eastern Church, though it still continued at a glacial pace. More than in the West, traditional depictions were often considered to have authentic ormiraculous origins, and the job of the artist was to copy them with as little deviation as possible. The Eastern church also never accepted the use of monumentalhigh relief or free-standing sculpture, which it found too reminiscent of paganism. Most modernEastern Orthodoxicons are very close to their predecessors of a thousand years ago, though development, and some shifts in meaning, have occurred – for example, the old man wearing a fleece in conversation withSaint Joseph usually seen in Orthodox Nativities seems to have begun as one of the shepherds, or the prophetIsaiah, but is now usually understood as the "Tempter" (Satan).[24]
In both East and West, numerous iconic types ofChrist,Mary and saints and other subjects were developed; the number of named types of icons of Mary, with or without the infant Christ, was especially large in the East, whereasChrist Pantocrator was much the commonest image of Christ. Especially important depictions of Mary include theHodegetria andPanagia types. Traditional models evolved for narrative paintings, including large cycles covering theevents of the Life of Christ, theLife of the Virgin, parts of the Old Testament, and, increasingly, the lives of popularsaints. Especially in the West, a system ofattributes developed foridentifying individual figures of saints by a standard appearance and symbolic objects held by them; in the East, they were more likely to identified by text labels.
From theRomanesque period sculpture on churches became increasingly important in Western art, and probably partly because of the lack of Byzantine models, became the location of much iconographic innovation, along with theilluminated manuscript, which had already taken a decisively different direction from Byzantine equivalents, under the influence ofInsular art and other factors. Developments in theology and devotional practice produced innovations like the subject of theCoronation of the Virgin and theAssumption, Both associated with theFranciscans, as were many other developments. Most painters remained content to copy and slightly modify the works of others, and it is clear that the clergy, by whom or for whose churches most art was commissioned, often specified what they wanted shown in great detail.
The theory oftypology, by which the meaning of most events of theOld Testament was understood as a "type" or pre-figuring of an event in the life of, or aspect of, Christ or Mary was often reflected in art, and in the laterMiddle Ages came to dominate the choice of Old Testament scenes in Western Christian art.
Whereas in the Romanesque andGothic periods the great majority of religious art was intended to convey often complex religious messages as clearly as possible, with the arrival ofEarly Netherlandish painting iconography became highly sophisticated, and in many cases appears to be deliberately enigmatic, even for a well-educated contemporary. The subtle layers of meaning uncovered by modern iconographical research in works ofRobert Campin such as theMérode Altarpiece, and of Jan van Eyck such as theMadonna of Chancellor Rolin and theWashington Annunciation lie in small details of what are on first viewing very conventional representations. When Italian painting developed a taste for enigma, considerably later, it most often showed in secular compositions influenced byRenaissance Neo-Platonism.
From the 15th century religious painting gradually freed itself from the habit of following earlier compositional models, and by the 16th century ambitious artists were expected to find novel compositions for each subject, and direct borrowings from earlier artists are more often of the poses of individual figures than of whole compositions. TheReformation soon restricted mostProtestant religious painting to Biblical scenes conceived along the lines ofhistory painting, and after some decades the CatholicCouncil of Trent reined in somewhat the freedom of Catholic artists.
Secular painting became far more common in the West from the Renaissance, and developed its own traditions and conventions of iconography, inhistory painting, which includesmythologies,portraits,genre scenes, and evenlandscapes, not to mention modern media and genres likephotography,cinema,political cartoons,comic books.
Renaissance mythological painting was in theory reviving the iconography of itsClassical Antiquity, but in practice themes likeLeda and the Swan developed on largely original lines, and for different purposes. Personal iconographies, where works appear to have significant meanings individual to, and perhaps only accessible by, the artist, go back at least as far asHieronymous Bosch, but have become increasingly significant with artists likeGoya,William Blake,Gauguin,Picasso,Frida Kahlo, andJoseph Beuys.
Iconography, often of aspects ofpopular culture, is a concern of otheracademic disciplines includingSemiotics,Anthropology,Sociology,Media Studies,Communication Studies, andCultural Studies. These analyses in turn have affected conventional art history, especially concepts such assigns in semiotics. Discussing imagery as iconography in this way implies a critical "reading" of imagery that often attempts to explore social and cultural values. Iconography is also used withinfilm studies to describe thevisual language of cinema, particularly within the field ofgenre criticism.[25] In the age of Internet, the new global history of the visual production of Humanity (Histiconologia[26]) includes History of Art and history of all kind of images or medias.
Contemporary iconography research often draws on theories of visual framing to address such diverse issues as the iconography of climate change created by different stakeholders,[27] the iconography that international organizations create about natural disasters,[28] the iconography of epidemics disseminated in the press,[29] and the iconography of suffering found in social media.[30]
An iconography study incommunication science analyzed stock photos used in press reporting to depict the social issue of child sexual abuse.[31] Based on a sample of N=1,437 child sexual abuse (CSA) online press articles that included 419 stock photos, a CSA iconography (i.e. a set of typical image motifs for a topic) was revealed that relate to criminal reporting: The CSA iconography visualizes 1. crime contexts, 2. course of the crime and people involved, and 3. consequences of the crime for the people involved (e.g., image motif: perpetrator in handcuffs).
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