In this short film, Angeliki Lymberopoulou and Rembrandt Duits discuss a very important term in the study of art history—iconography— a word rooted in Greek language, which literally means ‘writing in images.’ They address the duality in understanding and applying this term: on the one hand there is the historical approach, which sees images as a main source of information for people who cannot read texts; on the other there is the scholarly approach that focuses on the subject and the meaning each work of art conveys when considered within the time it was produced. They illustrate their discussion by examining a fresco depicting the Entry into Jerusalem in the Arena chapel by Giotto; a Byzantine panel painting (icon) of the Virgin and Child; Gianlorenzo Bernini’s sculpture of Apollo and Daphne; Jacob Matham’s engraving of ‘Envy’; and Giovanni Bellini’s panel painting Madonna of the Meadow.

transcript of film

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