Iconographic Analysis By: Karl Estrova Narcisso, Benna Mae Canlas, Relyn Mae Bongat, Bryan Sodoy -Iconography -The Great Mother -Christian Iconography -History of Iconography 2022

1. ICONOGRAPHIC
ANALYSIS
Sodoy, Bryan
Canlas, Benna Mae
Bongat, Relyn Mae Ybañez
Dela Cruz, Ken Bryan
16/10/2021

2. According to Marjorie Munsterberg (2009), a work of art
in terms of the life of the person who made it creates
one kind of historical context. There are many other
ways to relate a work to history, though, involving
different elements of the period from which it
came. One of them is an iconographic analysis, which
establishes the meaning a work of art had at the time it
was made. This may or may not include what the maker
of the work intended or, usually a more important factor,
what the person who paid for the work wanted. Any
particular time or place provides different possible
audiences, each of which will demand specific kinds of
information and make certain assumptions. The
iconographic argument always depends upon assembling
historical evidence to reconstruct these things.

3. Iconography
The word “Iconography” comes from two
Greek words, Eikon (Image) and Graphe
(Writing) which mean “Image Writing”. So
the word iconography coveys the idea that
an image or art can tell a story.
Iconography also involves understanding the
specific culturally constructed symbols and
motifs in a work of art that can help us to
identify the subject matter. So basically, the
iconographic approach is not about the
form or style of an artwork. THE GREAT MOTHER

4. The Great Mother
According to Whyjoker (2013) article, The religion of
the Great Mother, which flourished in western Asia in
Neolithic times, was reflected in pottery figurines
concerned with fertility—heavy-breasted and deep-
thighed females and bulls. In the Fertile Crescent after
3000 B.C., numerous local divinities associated with
cosmic powers were represented in bas-relief and
sculpture—at first by nonhuman symbols (such as an
ibex for the water god, Enki, and a bundle of reeds for
the fertility goddess, Inana) and later in human form.
Lion-bodied, human-headed, winged sphinxes
represented minor deities. The many-storied ziggurats,
symbolizing the planets, were believed to be the
earthly homes of the gods. THE GREAT MOTHER

5. Iconography
If you identified the subject as the Crucifixion
(an event described in the Christian Bible as the
moment when the Christian savior Jesus Christ
is killed on a cross), then you are correct. The
symbols and motifs that helped us to make that
identification are a prominent cross, a person
hanging on the cross, other figures surrounding
the cross, elements that we identify as a
landscape, and so forth. This artistic
representation of this subject began to be
codified by the 5th and 6th centuries and
became standard Christian iconography.
Crucifixion, from the Rabbula Gospels, 586, parchment,
25.5 cm x 33.5 cm (Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana,
Florence)

6. Christian Iconography
a consistent set of signs, symbols, and attributes allow
us to identify the subject matter over centuries and
across the globe—no matter the style of the artwork.
Standardizing the symbols and attributes of a subject
like the Crucifixion helps viewers identify important
figures and events. Consider that in many places
throughout time most people couldn’t read, and images
played an important role to help diverse audiences
learn stories. For instance, in Renaissance Europe,
perhaps as many as 95% of people couldn’t read!
Maintaining a standardized iconography of the most
important moments in Christian theology was one way
to help Christian devotees “read” Biblical stories or the
lives of saints.
Crucifixion. Giotto, Scrovegni Chapel, 1305–06, Padua,
Italy (photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

7. Example of Monastery Arts
Iconography Arts
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8. Christian Iconography
At first the church, continuing the Jewish distrust of iconology
and fearful of persecution, resisted any attempt to picture
Christ. It illustrated His natures by symbols—a lamb (an ancient
Hebrew "totemistic" symbol); Orpheus (a classical symbol); the
lion of Judah; the Good Shepherd; fish, phoenix, or pelican; His
monogram; and later the cross. However, the early Christians,
asked to imagine the historical Jesus making His triumphant
entry into Jerusalem, for example, found it nearly impossible
not to picture Him, to think of Him as looking like something.
Sometimes, under classical influence, they represented Him as
an Apollo-like youth. In characteristic Byzantine representations,
hedged about with the Biblical caution (Isaiah 53:2) that Christ
must have "no beauty that we should desire him," He is a calm,
bearded, older man, often the Pantocrator enthroned and
holding a book, symbolizing His divine office as ruler and
teacher.

9. Christian Iconography
Gradually Biblical figures and saints, distinguished by
haloes and personal symbols, such as the lion of St.
Mark, appeared in Christian painting, mosaics, stained
glass, fabrics, and eventually sculpture, long feared as
especially conducive to idolatry. Crucifixes, portraying
Christ on the cross, reluctantly adopted from the 7th
century on, gave Christianity some of its best and
worst art. Churches were often built in the form of a
cross and focused on the celebration of the chief
sacrament at the altar.

10. History of Iconography
Iconography is a special mode of Christian sacred art combining the natural and symbolic
in a unique stylized way to convey the Spiritual dimension of what is depicted.
Iconography is the original tradition of Christian sacred art and has been an integral part
of worship and mystical life of Christians since the times of the apostles. Referred to in
the Eastern Christian as windows of heaven. Icons have inspired and uplifted millions of
the faithful and many times, have been the instruments for demonstrating God’s
miraculous intercession in the life of mankind. Church tradition teaches that the first
Iconographer was St. Luke the Evangelist. He painted the holy image of the virgin Mary’s
face which he himself had seen and brought his first icons to mother of God herself
who approved them and proclaimed “May the grace of Him who was born of me
through me, be imparted to these Icons”. There are at least five (5) highly venerated
icons of the blessed virgin painted by St. Luke which are still venerated today and he is
also known to painted the icons of saint Peter and Saint Paul.

11. History of Iconography
The beginnings of Iconography can also be found in the catacomb of paintings of the 2nd
and 3rd centuries. In this era or the earliest days of Christianity, not many icons survived
or preserve because of the persecution punishment for being a Christian. But
Iconography became a subject of controversy in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Iconoclasm
or icon smashers were suspicious of any sacred art which represents human beings or
God and demanded the destruction of icons. Iconoclasm may have been influenced by
Jewish people and even Muslim ideas that also reflected the Puritan outlook in
Christianity which saw in all images a latent idolatry. Over the succeeding centuries, the
used of traditional iconography and sacred art declined. During the 15th and 16th centuries,
the Italian renaissance began this erosion by implementing and accepting the classical
humanity approach of pre-Christian era and its purely naturalistic fleshly approach to art.
In response to renaissance, there appeared, through byzantine tradition, the Cretan revival
and was led by painters.

12. History of Iconography
In 19th century or even earlier, a decline in the iconographic tradition re emerged and
naturalistic styles were again being used in eastern churches. In the mid 20th century in
Greece, an artist, writer, and philosopher named Photius revived the cause of byzantine
sacred art through his research and the icons and frescoes, he created a revival that
spread throughout the world even to America and is still with us today. Due to contact
lose influence eastern orthodox churches and monasteries began to prefer traditional
sacred art to western-style art.

13. Resources:
● https://owlcation.com/humanities/Iconography-and-Iconology-
in-World-Religions-and-Faiths
● https://writingaboutart.org/pages/iconographicanalysis.html
● https://smarthistory.org/introduction-iconographic-analysis/
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6hCtKpUBg

14. Thank You
For Listening
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