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63-510: The complex iconography of the five faces is illustrated and identified below. The box was made by a northern Italian workshop, probably in Milan, where Saint Ambrose was bishop, and engaged in a struggle with the Arian heresy . Milan has long been considered the most likely place of origin, which has been further strengthened after the insignia on the shields of the soldiers were identified as those of

126-399: A human figure, the rest symbolic objects. The top of the side faces is finished with a register, actually the sides of the lid, of busts of male figures in slightly flattened round clipea frames. Two of these are missing; there would have been a total of 17 originally, with five on the front, four on the back and four, one now missing, on each side. A young beardless Jesus is agreed to occupy

189-752: A more scientific manner than the popular aesthetic approach of the time. These early contributions paved the way for encyclopedias , manuals, and other publications useful in identifying the content of art. Mâle's l'Art religieux du XIIIe siècle en France (originally 1899, with revised editions) translated into English as The Gothic Image, Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century has remained continuously in print. In early twentieth-century Germany , Aby Warburg (1866–1929) and his followers Fritz Saxl (1890–1948) and Erwin Panofsky (1892–1968) elaborated

252-474: 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 example semiotics , media studies , and archaeology, 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 between iconology and iconography , although

315-466: 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). Four Evangelists In Christian tradition,

378-460: A specialist on early medieval churches and another German émigré, extended iconographical analysis to architectural forms . The period from 1940 can be seen as one where iconography was especially prominent in art history. Whereas most iconographical scholarship remains highly dense and specialized, some analyses began to attract a much wider audience, for example Panofsky 's theory (now generally out of favour with specialists of that picture) that

441-503: A thousand years ago, though development, and some shifts in meaning, have occurred – for example, the old man wearing a fleece in conversation with Saint Joseph usually seen in Orthodox Nativities seems to have begun as one of the shepherds, or the prophet Isaiah , but is now usually understood as the "Tempter" ( Satan ). In both East and West, numerous iconic types of Christ , Mary and saints and other subjects were developed;

504-783: A unit of the Palatine Guards stationed in Milan in the late 4th century, when Milan was the usual residence of the Imperial court. The Notitia Dignitatum in the Bodleian Library in Oxford records these designs. One theory, discussed below, identifies the date very precisely to soon after 386, when Ambrose successfully led the Orthodox population in a confrontation with the Arian-leaning Imperial court. It has also been suggested that it

567-685: A well-educated contemporary. The subtle layers of meaning uncovered by modern iconographical research in works of Robert Campin such as the Mérode Altarpiece , and of Jan van Eyck such as the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin and the Washington 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 by Renaissance Neo-Platonism . From

630-511: A word meaning "people who proclaim good news", because their books aim to tell the "good news" ("gospel") of Jesus. In iconography , the evangelists often appear in Evangelist portraits derived from classical tradition, and are also frequently represented by the symbols which originate from the four " living creatures " that draw the throne-chariot of God in the vision in Ezekiel 1 reflected in

693-668: 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 of Buddhist image, large stone relief or fresco narrative cycles of the Life of the Buddha , or tales of his previous lives, are found at major sites like Sarnath , Ajanta , and Borobudor , especially in earlier periods. Conversely, in Hindu art, narrative scenes have become rather more common in recent centuries, especially in miniature paintings of

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756-434: Is a concern of other academic disciplines including Semiotics , Anthropology , Sociology , Media Studies , Communication Studies , and Cultural Studies . These analyses in turn have affected conventional art history, especially concepts such as signs 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

819-415: Is also used within film studies to describe the visual language of cinema, particularly within the field of genre criticism . In the age of Internet, the new global history of the visual production of Humanity (Histiconologia ) 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

882-688: Is depicted with wings, following the biblical sources first in Ezekiel 1 – 2 , and in Revelation . The symbols are shown with, or in place of, the Evangelists in early medieval Gospel Books , and are the usual accompaniment to Christ in Majesty when portrayed during the same period, reflecting the vision in Revelation. They were presented as one of the most common motifs found on church portals and apses , as well as many other locations. When surrounding Christ,

945-413: Is easy to establish the lack of any link (by likes or opposites) between the scenes on the two borders (Old Testament) and those of the central panel (New Testament)". However recent studies have proposed that the casket in fact shows a coherent and carefully thought out programme, comprehending both Old and New Testament scenes, though the underlying aims of this have been interpreted differently. Many of

1008-678: Is in the British Museum , which is also the home of most of the panels of the much later Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket (one panel is in the Bargello Museum, Florence). This has only one Christian scene, with others from northern myth and Mediterranean history, and includes texts which mingle Latin and Old English in both Roman letters and Anglo-Saxon runes . However it shares with the Brescia Casket great programmatic complexity, and an equal ability to arouse scholarly debate; it seems clear that

1071-564: The Book of Revelation ( 4:6–9ff ), referred to as the four ' Seraphim ', though neither source links the creatures to the Evangelists (of course the depiction of the Seraphim predates in chronology the writing of the New Testament which portrays the writers John, Luke, Mark, Matthew as symbolically embodied by the four Seraphim). Images normally, but not invariably, appear with wings like angels . When

1134-537: The Catacombs of Rome show orans 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 of Christ in Majesty owes something to both Imperial portraits and depictions of Zeus . In

1197-626: The Four Evangelists are Matthew , Mark , Luke , and John , the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts. In the New Testament , they bear the following titles: the Gospel of Matthew ; the Gospel of Mark ; the Gospel of Luke ; and the Gospel of John . The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels , because they include many of

1260-530: The Franciscans , 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 of typology , by which the meaning of most events of the Old Testament was understood as a "type" or pre-figuring of an event in

1323-629: The Greek εἰκών ("image") and γράφειν ("to write" or to 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 the Byzantine and Orthodox Christian tradition. This usage is mostly found in works translated from languages such as Greek or Russian, with the correct term being "icon painting". In art history , "an iconography" may also mean

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1386-581: The Late Antique period iconography began to be standardized, and to relate more closely to Biblical texts, although many gaps in the canonical Gospel narratives were plugged with matter from the apocryphal gospels . Eventually, the Church would succeed in weeding most of these out, but some remain, like the ox and ass in the Nativity of Christ . After the period of Byzantine iconoclasm iconographical innovation

1449-445: 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. The Reformation soon restricted most Protestant religious painting to Biblical scenes conceived along

1512-593: The Index of Medieval Art (formerly Index of Christian Art) at Princeton (which has made a specialism of iconography since its early days in America). These are now being digitised and made available online, usually on a restricted basis. With the arrival of computing, the Iconclass 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,

1575-753: The Virgin , parts of the Old Testament, and, increasingly, the lives of popular saints . Especially in the West, a system of attributes developed for identifying 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 the Romanesque period sculpture on churches became increasingly important in Western art, and probably partly because of

1638-474: The centre of the front panel, and he is probably surrounded by the Twelve Apostles , with Saint Paul substituting for Judas , making 13. Saints Peter and Paul are presumed to be the two older men with long beards flanking Jesus. The remaining four heads, presumably those on the back face, might be the Four Evangelists , which would mean repetition of subjects, or other saints. The selection of incidents

1701-632: The collections of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and the German Marburger Index . These are available, usually on-line or on DVD . The system can also be used outside pure art history, for example on sites like Flickr . Religious images are used to some extent by all major religions, including both Indian and Abrahamic faiths, and often contain highly complex iconography, which reflects centuries of accumulated tradition. Secular Western iconography later drew upon these themes. Central to

1764-750: 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. Early Western writers who took special note of the content of images include Giorgio Vasari , whose Ragionamenti interpreted the paintings in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence . 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,

1827-639: The early part of the Easter Vigil it was opened and the contents displayed to the congregation. In 1798, with the suppression of the convent after the Napoleonic invasion, it was transferred to the Biblioteca Queriniana , the main library in Brescia, and in 1882 transferred to the museum that, after some moves, since 1999 has occupied part of the old convent home of the box. At some point during this period it

1890-611: The essential unity of the two parts of the Christian Bible, an aim common in later medieval art , which was previously thought not to have been found so early. The identification of many of the scenes remains uncertain, with new identifications having been proposed only recently, and not all identifications agreed between, for example, Watson in 1981, Tkacz in 2001 and Bayens in 2004. The primary identifications here follow Watson, sometimes mentioning alternatives. Watson's notes summarize most but not all other identifications. For example,

1953-428: The figure of the man usually appears at top left—above Christ's right hand, with the lion above Christ's left arm. Underneath the man is the ox and underneath the lion is the eagle. This both reflects the medieval idea of the order of "nobility" of nature of the beasts (man, lion, ox, eagle) and the text of Ezekiel 1:10 . From the 13th century, their use began to decline, as a new conception of Christ in Majesty , showing

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2016-451: The framework, carrying the decoration, with most zones of decoration on their own individual plaques. The casket measures 22 centimetres (8.7 in) high, 32 centimetres (13 in) wide and 25 centimetres (9.8 in) deep. The casket is covered with a profusion of small religious scenes carved in ivory relief , drawn from both the Old and New Testaments . The lid, which may be regarded as

2079-517: The full meaning of both boxes would have represented a puzzle, or riddle , even to well-educated contemporaries used to the iconographies of their respective periods. Monographs: Other: Iconography Iconography , as a branch of art history , studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct from artistic style . The word iconography comes from

2142-635: The iconography and hagiography of Indian religions are mudra or gestures with specific meanings. Other features include the aureola and halo , also found in Christian and Islamic art, and divine qualities and attributes represented by asana and ritual tools such as the dharmachakra , vajra , chhatra , sauwastika , phurba and danda . The symbolic use of colour to denote the Classical Elements or Mahabhuta and letters and bija syllables from sacred alphabetic scripts are other features. Under

2205-421: The iconography of climate change created by different stakeholders, the iconography that international organizations create about natural disasters, the iconography of epidemics disseminated in the press, and the iconography of suffering found in social media. An iconography study in communication science analyzed stock photos used in press reporting to depict the social issue of child sexual abuse. Based on

2268-523: 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. In the United States , to which Panofsky immigrated in 1931, students such as Frederick Hartt , and Meyer Schapiro continued under his influence in the discipline. In an influential article of 1942, Introduction to an "Iconography of Mediaeval Architecture" , Richard Krautheimer ,

2331-509: The influence of tantra art developed esoteric meanings, accessible only to initiates; this is an especially strong feature of Tibetan art . The art of Indian Religions esp. Hindus in its numerous sectoral divisions is governed by sacred texts called the Aagama which describes the ratio and proportion of the icon, called taalmaana as well as mood of the central figure in a context. For example, Narasimha an incarnation of Vishnu though considered

2394-533: The lack of Byzantine models, became the location of much iconographic innovation, along with the illuminated manuscript , which had already taken a decisively different direction from Byzantine equivalents, under the influence of Insular art and other factors. Developments in theology and devotional practice produced innovations like the subject of the Coronation of the Virgin and the Assumption , Both associated with

2457-613: The life of, or aspect of, Christ or Mary was often reflected in art, and in the later Middle Ages came to dominate the choice of Old Testament scenes in Western Christian art. Whereas in the Romanesque and Gothic periods the great majority of religious art was intended to convey often complex religious messages as clearly as possible, with the arrival of Early Netherlandish painting iconography became highly sophisticated, and in many cases appears to be deliberately enigmatic, even for

2520-640: The lines of history painting , and after some decades the Catholic Council 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, in history painting , which includes mythologies , portraits , genre scenes , and even landscapes , not to mention modern media and genres like photography , cinema , political cartoons , comic books . Renaissance mythological painting

2583-455: The lives of Krishna and Rama . Christian art features Christian iconography, prominently developed in the medieval era and renaissance , and is a prominent aspect of Christian media . Aniconism was rejected within Christian theology from the outset, and the development of early Christian art and architecture occurred within the first seven centuries after Jesus . Small images in

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2646-459: The meaning of Christian images and architecture is closely linked to the content of biblical , liturgical and theological texts, which were usually considered authoritative by most patrons, artists and viewers. Technological advances allowed the building-up of huge collections of photographs, with an iconographic arrangement or index, which include those of the Warburg Institute and

2709-478: The most important face of a small box such as this, has the largest reliefs, with five scenes from the Passion of Christ in two registers, and a small top register with a frieze of birds. All four sides follow a design with a middle register containing relatively large New Testament subjects. Above and below this are narrower registers with Old Testament scenes, and at the corners thin vertical images, only one containing

2772-409: The nature of Christ, and third the virtues required of a Christian for salvation . These animals may have originally been seen as representing the highest forms of the various types of animals: man, as king of creation, as the image of the creator; the lion, as king of beasts of prey (meat-eating); the ox, as king of domesticated animals (grass-eating); the eagle, as king of birds. Each of the symbols

2835-606: The nineteenth century in the works of scholars such as Adolphe Napoleon Didron (1806–1867), Anton Heinrich Springer (1825–1891), and Émile Mâle (1862–1954) all specialists in Christian religious art, which was the main focus of study in this period, in which French scholars were especially prominent. They looked back to earlier attempts to classify and organise subjects encyclopedically like Cesare Ripa and Anne Claude Philippe de Caylus 's Recueil d'antiquités égyptiennes, étrusques, grècques, romaines et gauloises as guides to understanding works of art, both religious and profane, in

2898-502: The number of named types of icons of Mary, with or without the infant Christ, was especially large in the East, whereas Christ Pantocrator was much the commonest image of Christ. Especially important depictions of Mary include the Hodegetria and Panagia types. Traditional models evolved for narrative paintings, including large cycles covering the events of the Life of Christ , the Life of

2961-539: The practice of identification and classification of motifs in images to using iconography as a means to understanding meaning. Panofsky codified an influential approach to iconography in his 1939 Studies 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," although the distinction he and other scholars drew between particular definitions of "iconography" (put simply,

3024-446: 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. As regards the interpretation of Christian art , that Panofsky researched throughout his life, the iconographic interest in texts as possible sources remains important, because

3087-408: The same stories, often in the same sequence or even verbatim. While the periods to which the gospels are usually dated suggest otherwise, convention traditionally holds that the authors were two of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus , John and Matthew, as well as two "apostolic men", Mark and Luke, whom Orthodox Tradition records as members of the 70 Apostles ( Luke 10 ): They are called evangelists ,

3150-506: The scene on the back panel that Watson calls the Calling of Andrew and Peter by Jesus, which she admits is a rare subject not otherwise known in a similar composition, is called the Transfiguration of Christ by Tkacz, followed by Bayens and a number of reviewers. That would also be an unusual depiction, though of a far more common subject. The key difference in reading the image is whether

3213-620: The scenes are very rarely depicted in surviving art, and several have had new identifications proposed in recent decades. For Carolyn Joslin Watson, in a thesis of 1977 and an article in Gesta in 1981, the key to the programme lies in Milanese church politics of the time, and Ambrose's battle with the Arians. For Catherine Brown Tkacz, in a book of 2001, the main purpose of the programme is to state through typology

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3276-461: The symbols of the Four Evangelists appear together, it is called a Tetramorph , common in the Romanesque art of Europe such as church frescoes or murals . The meanings accruing to the symbols grew over centuries, with an early formulation by Jerome , and were fully expressed by Rabanus Maurus , who set out three layers of meaning for the beasts: representing first the Evangelists, second

3339-586: The wavy lines the figures stand on represent cloud or water. All three authors are able to relate the subject they have chosen to their differing interpretations of the overall scheme of decoration. Probably the closest direct comparison to the Brescia casket is the Pola Casket, found in a fragmentary condition under a church floor in Istria in 1906, which has fewer scenes, and those rather more conventional. Another smaller casket, now dismantled, with four Passion scenes

3402-489: The wounds of the Passion , came into use. In Evangelist portraits, they sometimes appear to dictate to the writing evangelist. Matthew is often cited as the "first Gospel account", not only owing to its place in the canon , but also in view of the patristic witness to this effect. However, most biblical scholars see the gospel account of Mark as having been written first and John's gospel account as having been written last of

3465-521: The writing on the rear wall in the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck turned the painting into the record of a marriage contract. Holbein 's The Ambassadors has been the subject of books for a general market with new theories as to its iconography, and the best-sellers of Dan Brown include theories, disowned by most art historians, on the iconography of works by Leonardo da Vinci . The method of iconology , which had developed following

3528-462: Was Cesare Ripa 's emblem book Iconologia . 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 figure Amor 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. Iconography as an academic art historical discipline developed in

3591-652: 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 of David ". A number of collections of different types have been classified using Iconclass, notably many types of old master print ,

3654-438: Was dismantled and the panels displayed laid out flat on a board forming a cross shape with a frame. The box was restored and re-assembled in 1928. The casket is rectangular, with five faces, four sides and a lid, held together by an internal framework of walnut wood, replaced when the casket was returned to its proper format in 1928 when the current short ivory feet were also added. Numerous carved ivory plaques are attached to

3717-663: Was founded in 753 by Desiderius , last of the Lombard kings. Whatever its original function it was used as a reliquary in the Middle Ages , and was referred to in monastery documents as the "ivory sepulchre", possibly because it contained a stone taken from the empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem . It played a special role in the convent's Easter liturgy , when in

3780-603: Was in theory reviving the iconography of its Classical Antiquity , but in practice themes like Leda 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 as Hieronymous Bosch , but have become increasingly significant with artists like Goya , William Blake , Gauguin , Picasso , Frida Kahlo , and Joseph Beuys . Iconography, often of aspects of popular culture ,

3843-492: Was long thought not to follow a specific programme, although Delbrueck in his monograph of 1939 was able to show that the majority of the scenes, including many of the rare ones, depicted events covered in the lectionary readings for the period of Lent and Easter that were used in Milan in Ambrose's time, about which we have a reasonable amount of information from Ambrose's surviving writings. Andre Grabar in 1969 wrote that "It

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3906-532: 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 or miraculous 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 monumental high relief or free-standing sculpture, which it found too reminiscent of paganism. Most modern Eastern Orthodox icons are very close to their predecessors of

3969-477: Was used for the relics of Gervasius and Protasius , two Milanese Roman martyr saints whose remains were translated (dug up and moved) in Ambrose's time, as recorded in a letter of his; this was one of the earliest translations recorded. The silver lock plate is later, probably from the 8th century, and later metal hinges were removed in 1928. It is not known when it entered the keeping of the convent of San Salvatore, Brescia , but it may well have been soon after it

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