Iconography :: Essays Papers

Iconography Iconography, in art history, the study of subject payoff in art. The meaning of works of art is often conveyed by the particular(prenominal) objects or figures that the artist chooses to portray the purpose of iconography is to identify, classify, and explain these objects. Iconography is particularly pregnant in the study of religious and allegorical painting, where umpteen of the objects that are visualizecrosses, skulls, books, or candles, for examplehave special significance, which is often obscure or symbolic.The use of iconographic symbols in art began as early as 3000 BC, when the neolithic civilizations of the Middle East used non human being or animal figures to make up their gods. Thus, the Egyptian mother goddess Hathor was associated with the cow and usually appeared in relief grave and wall paintings as a cow-headed woman. The sun god Ra had a hawks head, and the creator Ptah appeared as a bull.In ancient Greece and Rome, each of the gods was associat ed with particular objects. Zeus (Jupiter), the father of the gods, was often accompanied by an eagle or a thunderbolt Apollo, the god of art, by a lyre Artemis (Diana), the hunter, by a bow and quiver. In addition, the Romans perfected the use of secular allegorical symbols. For example, a woman surrounded by bunches of grapes and sheaves of wheat would be readily understand as a representation of the bounties of the earth.Early Christian art during the stop consonant of Roman persecution was highly circumspect, and innocuous objectsthe fish and the dovewere used to mean Christ and the Holy Spirit. Later Christian art, however, became replete with iconographic symbols. In particular, many of the saints became associated with specific objectsSaint Peter with two keys, for instance, or Saint Catherine with a broken wheel.During the Renaissance and through the 18th century, allegorical paintings were especially popular, as artists constructed elaborate symbolic schemes to illustra te such themes as the vanity of human existence.