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FRICK FINE ARTS LIBRARY
ART HISTORY:
WESTERN EUROPEAN ICONOGRAPHY
Library Guide Series, No. 22
"Qui scit ubi scientis sit, ille est proximus habenti." -- Brunetiere*
Introductory Information
The term iconography, in short, relates to the subject, meaning or symbolism of an
artwork. Apart from classifying themes, motifs, attributes, allegories, and symbols,
iconography also traces their historical development focusing for example on the
perpetuation of certain visual traditions and the resulting standardization of image
formulas. Iconography is usually divided into religious and secular themes. This library
guide offers the student a starting point in the field of iconography.
It should also be noted that since every culture has its own conception of symbolism, an
attempt has been made in this library guide to include resources that will assist students
with the iconography of Western European artworks. For information on Asian
iconography, please see Library Guide No. 1 entitled Art History: Asian Iconography. It
will soon be mounted on the ULS Digital Library. For a concise introduction to the
definition of iconography, see the following.
Grove Dictionary of Art. Available for you to search yourself at any electronic
device in ULS libraries. Begin at the ULS home page and click on FIND
ARTICLES. Go to the right of the screen and click on “Particular Database” and
then click on the first letter of the database title. Choose the title of the database.
See the articles entitled “Allegory,” “Iconography and Iconology,” and
“Symbol.,” each of which is accompanied by a bibliography of resources.
Methodology
Gombrich, E. H. Symbolic Images: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance. 3 rd ed.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. Frick – N6370/G58/1985
Grabar, André. Christian Iconography: A Study of the Origins. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1968. Frick - N7832/G66
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Male, Emile. Religious Art in France, the Late Middle Ages: A Study of Medieval
Iconography and Its Sources. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986. Frick –
N7949/A1M3313/1986
Male, Emile. Religious Art in France, the Thirteenth Century: A Study of Medieval
Iconography and Its Sources. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. Frick –
N7949/A1/M3513/1984
Male, Emile. Religious Art in France, the Twelfth Century: A Study of the Origins of
Medieval Iconography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978. Frick –
N6843/M24/1978
Panofsky, Erwin. Studies in Iconology: Humanistic Themes in the Art of the
Renaissance. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. Frick – N6370/P19/1972
Panofsky, Erwin. Meaning in the Visual Arts: Papers in and on Art History. Garden
City: Doubleday, 1955. Frick – N7435/P19m
Wittkower, Rudolf. Allegory and the Migration of Symbols. London: Thames and
Hudson, 1977. Frick – N7710/W83
General Resources
Materials on this subject may also be located by executing a subject search in Pittcat, the
ULS online catalog, using the following Library of Congress subject headings.
Allegories
Art and Mythology
Art Themes Motives
Mythology
Symbolism
Symbolism in Art
Cirlot, Juan Eduardo. Dictionary of Symbols. New York: Philosophical Library, 1962.
Frick - Reference - N7740/C57 (Hillman has 2nd ed., 1971 - Stacks and ULS Storage -
BF/623/S9/C513/1971b
Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. Rev. ed. New York: Harper
and Row, 1979. Frick - Reference - N/7560/H17/1979
Hall, James. Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art. New York:
Icon Editions, 1994. Frick – Reference – N7740/H35/1994
Jobes, Gertrude. Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore and Symbols. 2 vols. New York:
Scarecrow Press, 1961. Frick - Reference – Iconography - GR35/J62
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Roberts, Helene E. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in
Works of Art. 2 vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Pubs., 1998. Frick - Reference -
N7565/E53/1998
Vries, Ad de. Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. 2 nd , rev. ed. London: North-Holland
Pub. Co., 1976.. Frick - Reference - BL600/V74/1976
A Database
Christian Iconography
Index to Christian Art. Available for you to search yourself at any electronic device
in ULS libraries. Begin at the ULS home page and click on FIND ARTICLES. Go
to the right of the screen and click on “Particular Database” and then click on the first
letter of the database title. Choose the title of the database.
The Index of Christian Art is the largest archive of information on Early Christian and
Medieval iconography in the world. The Index documents images or subjects of
Christian art from early apostolic times to 1400 CE with no geographic limitations.
17 different media are represented including manuscripts, metalwork, sculpture,
painting, glass, et al. ICA provides more than 150 searchable categories of
information, including the usual – artist’s name (if known), title of the work, medium,
provenance and extensive bibliographic citations.
Resources
NOTES: Provides citations and abstracts only about each image or subject. Only
a fraction of the printed ICA is available online at the current time.
The database began in 1991 and is updated weekly. Because of copyright law,
many images are not available for public viewing. The bibliographic information
for each subject is, however, invaluable for art and architectural historians. For
assistance in using ICA, please consult Library Guide No. 35 entitled Index to
Christian Art. It will soon be mounted as a Research Guide on the Art and
Architectural History Subject Guide on the ULS Digital Library.
Materials on this subject may also be located by executing a subject search in Pittcat, the
ULS online catalog, using the following Library of Congress subject headings.
Christian Art and Symbolism
Jesus Christ Art
Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. Dictionary of Christian Art. New York: Continuum,
1994. Frick – Reference – BV150/A66/1994
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Cabrol, Fernand. Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie. 15 vols. in 30
parts. Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1924-1953. Frick - Reference - BR95/C11/1924
A standard dictionary of Christian iconography and liturgy.
Catholic Encyclopedia. (1907) Frick - Reading Room - Section 3.
Contains very informative articles on the saints; iconography of such religious
subjects as the Jesus Christ, the Last Supper, Pentecost; Trinity and other Christian
terms.
Didron, Adolphe. Christian Iconography: The History of Christian Art in the Middle
Ages. 2 vols. New York: F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1965. Frick - Reference - N7830/D55
Vol. 1 - History and symbols of the numbus and God; Vol. 2 - Iconography of the
Trinity, angels, et. al.
Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1954. Frick - Reference - N7830/F35
Does not provide sources of information; therefore, generally not acceptable as a
secondary source in graduate level art history papers.
Goldsmith, Elizabeth. Ancient Pagan Symbols. New York: AMS Press, 1973. Hillman
Library - BL600/G6/1973
Hardison, O. B. Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages. Frick –
BX1970/H264
Discusses the Roman Catholic Mass as sacred drama.
Jungmann, Josef A. The Mass of the Roman Rite. 2 vols. Westminster, MD: Christian
Classics, 1986, c.1951-1955. Frick - BX2230.2/J7913/1986
Discusses the history of the rite of the Mass of the Roman Catholic Church from the
time of the primitive church, thus provides reasons for certain changes that were
made in religious architecture and liturgical objects.
Kirschbaum, Engelbert, ed. Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie. 8 vols. Rome:
Herder, 1968. Frick - Reference – N7825/67
Another standard dictionary of Christian iconography (vols. 1-4). Vols. 5-8 on the
saints. English-German index in volume 4.
Klauser, Theodor, ed. Reallexikon fuer Antike und Christentum. 14 vols. Stuttgart:
Hiersemann, 1950-1978. Frick - Reading Room - N31/R28
Knipping, John B. Iconography of the Counter Reformation in the Netherlands. 2 vols.
Nieuwkoop: De Graff, 1974. Frick - Reference - N6934/K71/1974
Kunstle, Karl. Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst. 2 vols. Freiburg im Breisgau:
Herder, 1926-1928. Frick – Reference – N7830/K96
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Mann, Horace Kinder. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages. 18 vols. in 19.
St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1925-1932. Hillman Library - BX1070/M281
Covers St. Gregory the Great to Benedict XI; includes bibliographical footnotes.
Marrow, James H. Passion Iconography in Northern European Art of the Late Middle
Ages and Early Renaissance: A Study of the Transformation of Sacred Metaphor into
Descriptive Narrative. Kortrijk, Belgium: Van Ghemmert Pub. Co., 1979. Frick –
N7942/M37
Réau, Louis. Iconographie de l’art chrétien. 3 vols. in 5. Paris: Presses universitaires
de France, 1955-1959. Frick - Reference - Index Tables
More discursive than Kirschbaum; arranged Biblically. Volume 1 includes articles
on sources and evolution of Christian iconography; on animal, human, and liturgical
symbolism; and iconography of the saints. Volume 2, containing iconography of the
Bible, is divided into two parts, one covering the Old Testament; the other, the New
Testament. Volume 3, iconography of the saints, consists of 3 books, the last of
which has indexes to names of saints in various languages; to patronage of various
saints; and to attributes of saints. Entries in volume 3 describe scenes in which saints
are depicted in art and contain bibliographical data and extensive lists of works that
illustrate the saint or symbol discussed.
Roberts, Helene E. Iconographic Index to New Testament Subjects. New York:
Garland, 1992+ Frick - Reference - ND1430/R6/1992
Roberts, Helene E. Iconographic Index to Old Testament Subjects. New York: Garland,
1987. Frick – Reference – ND1430/R63/1987
Schiller, Gertrud. Icongraphy of Christian Art. 2 vols. Greenwich, CT: New York
Graphic Society, 1971. Frick - Reference – N7830/S33/1971
A well-illustrated dictionary of New Testament iconography. Covers the life of
Christ and the Passion. Two other volumes covering the Resurrection and Ascension
and the Church are only available in the German language edition and have not been
translated. Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst. 5 vols. in 7. Gutersloh:
Gutersloher Verlahshaus G. Mohn, 1966-1992. Frick - Reference - Index Tables.
Seibert, Jutta. Lexikon christlicher Kunst: Themen, Gestalten, Symbole. Freiburg im
Breisgau: Herder, 1980. Frick – Reference – N7825/S44
Speake, Jennifer. The Dent Dictionary of Symbols in Christian Art. London: J. M. Dent,
1994. Frick – Reference – N8010/S64/1994
Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs; The Year of the Lord in
Liturgy and Folklore. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1958. Frick- Reference -
BV30/W427
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Young, Karl. The Drama of the Medieval Church. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1933.
Frick - PN1751/Y73
Discusses the history and development of liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church and
various ecclesiastical related dramatizations. Source for Latin versions of numerous
medieval tropes and liturgical plays.
Hagiography (Works about the Christian Saints)
Materials on this subject may also be located by executing a subject search in Pittcat, the
ULS online catalog, using the following Library of Congress subject headings.
Anne Mother of the Virgin Mary
Francis of Assisi Saint
Joseph Saint
Mary Blessed Virgin Saint
Bibliotheca Sanctorum. 12 vols. Roma: Istituto Giovanni XXIII nella Pontifica
Università lateranese, 1961?- . Frick - Reference - BX/4655.8/B5
Lengthy, scholarly articles on saints.
Bles, Arthur de. How to Distinguish the Saints in Art by their Costumes, Symbols, and
Attributes. New York: Art Culture, 1925. Frick - iN8080/B64
Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints. 4 vols. New York: Kenedy, 1956. Frick – Reference
- Iconography - BX4654/B985/1956
A standard, authoritative reference. Arranged by ecclesiastical calendar (or feast day
of the saint). Index by saint’s name is in volume 4. Butler’s is the preferred set on
the lives of the saints because it provides citations to other publications which earlier
artists may have used.
Supplemented by: Attwater, Donald. Dictionary of Saints. New York: Kenedy,
1958. Hillman Library - BX4654/B985/A8
Drake. Maurice. Saints and Their Emblems. London: T. W. Laurie Ltd., 1916. Frick -
Reference – i N8080/D76
Divided into biographical dictionary of saints and dictionary of emblems that lists
saints associated with them.
Duchet-Suchaux, Gaston. The Bible and the Saints. New York: Flammarion, 1994.
Frick – Reference – BS513.2/D8313/1994
Farmer, David. Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. Frick -
Reference - BX4659/F23
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Hutchinson Dictionary of Symbols in Art. London: Duncan Baird Publishers, 1995.
Frick - Reference - N33/C37/1995
Kaftal, George. The Saints in Italian Art. 4 vols. Florence: Sansoni, 1965-85. Frick -
Reference - iND1432/I8k33/1952-1985
Vol. 1 - Tuscan Painting; Vol. 2 - Central and South Italian Schools of Painting; Vol. 3
- North East Italy; Vol. 4 - Northwest Italy.
Kaske, Robert. Medieval Christian Literary Imagery. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1988. Hillman - 4th floor - PN671/Z99K37/1988
Concerns the use of patristic writing to clarify metaphors and images in medieval
poetry.
Christian Literary Texts
The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. 10 vols.
New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1899-1900. Hillman Library - BR60/A627/1899
Volumes 1-8 cover the writings of ecclesiastical authors who wrote prior to 325 A.D.
Volume 8 contains some of The Infancy Gospels. Volume 9 provides the
bibliographical synopsis of volumes 1-8. Volume 10 is a supplement of more
recently discovered documents.
Butkovich, Anthony. Revelations; Saint Birgitta of Sweden. Los Angeles: Ecumenical
Foundation of America, 1972. Frick – Reference – BX4700/B6/B85
A 14th century Swedish saint who made a pilgrimage to Bethlehem and while
contemplating the grotto where Christ was presumed to have been born, had a vision
of his birth.
Fathers of the Church. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1947- .
Hillman Library. Individual volumes are cataloged separately, see the title index in
Pittcat, the ULS online catalog. More than 100 volumes are planned. Includes the works
of the four Latin fathers: Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, and Jerome as well as others.
The Holy Bible. Trans from the Latin Vulgate .... Douai ed. Frick - Reference -
BS180/B58 (Copy also in Hillman Library - Reference - Ground floor - BS180/1899a)
Interpreter’s Bible. 12 vols. New York: Abington Press, 1952. Frick - Reference -
BS491/I61
Jacobus de Voragine. The Golden Legend. Trans. by Granger Ryan. New York: Arno
Press, 1969. Frick - Reference - BX4654/J17r
Also have Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Frick - Reference -
BX4654/J334/1993
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First published in Latin in 1275. the first compilation of the lives of the saints
and used as a source by medieval and renaissance artists. Arranged according to
the church calendar beginning with Advent.
Meditations on the Life of Christ. Ed. by Isa Ragusa and Rosalie B. Green. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1961. Frick - BT300/B69
Once attributed to Pseudo St. Bonaventura, now believed to have been written by a
13th century Franciscan monk living in Italy. Text relates the story of the Virgin
Mary and Jesus Christ.
New Testament Apocrypha. Ed. by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Trans. by A. J. B. Higgins.
2 vols. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963-1966. Frick - Reference - BS2832/S35
Much medieval art was based on the Infancy gospels and other apocyrphal books.
Patrologia Graeca Database. Full Text. Available for you to search yourself at any
electronic device in ULS libraries. Begin at the ULS home page and click on FIND
ARTICLES. Go to the right of the screen and click on “Particular Database” and
then click on the first letter of the database title. Choose the title of the database.
An electronic version of more than 160 volumes of Greek material (with Latin
translations) relevant to the study of the history of the Christian Church from its
beginnings through the Council of Florence in 1439. A collection of the writings of
church leaders who wrote in Greek, including both the Eastern “Fathers” and those
Western Christians who wrote before the Latin takeover of the West in the third
century. It includes, for example, the early writings collectively known as the
Apostolic Fathers, such as the Epistles of Clement and The Shepherd of Hermas, the
church historian Eusebius, the controversial theologian Origen, and the Cappadocian
Fathers Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa. PG’s coverage
extends to 1439, the date of the Council of Florence.
Patrologia Latina Database. Full-Text. Available for you to search yourself at any
electronic device in ULS libraries. Begin at the ULS home page and click on FIND
ARTICLES. Go to the right of the screen and click on “Particular Database” and
then click on the first letter of the database title. Choose the title of the database.
A complete electronic verstion of the first edition of Jacques-Paul Migne’s
Patrologica Latina (1844-1855 and 1862-1865). Patrologia Latina covers
philosophical and theological writings from Latin Christianity up to the year 1216.
Contains bibliographic information from works concerning patristic and monastic
thought as well as philological and theological learning, humanistic and ecclesiastical
thinking.
Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. 14 vols.
New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1886-1890. Hillman - BR60/S464/1sr ser./1886
Secular and Classical Iconography
8

Bober, Phyllis P. and Ruth Rubenstein. Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture: A
Handbook of Sources. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. Frick - Stacks -
NB85/B63/1986
Based on the Census of Antique works of Art known to Renaissance Artists.
Iconographic arrangement.
Earls, Irene. Baroque Art: A Topical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
Frick – Reference – N6415/B3/E18/1996
Earls, Irene. Renaissance Art: A Topical Dictionary. New York: Greenwood Press,
1987. Frick – N6370/E27/1987
Friedman, John B. Medieval Iconography: A Research Guide. New York: Garland,
1998. Frick - Reference - Z5933/F75/1998
Lancelot: roman en prose du 13 siècle. 9 tomes. Ed. par Alexandre Micha. Geneve:
Droz, 1978- . Hillman Library – PQ1489/L2/1978
Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation.
Ed. by Norris J. Lacy. 5 vols. New York: Garland, 1993- . Hillman Library –
PQ1489/L2E5/1993
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). 10 vols. Zurich: Artemis,
1981. Frick – Reference – N7760/L49/1981
Marle, Raimond van. Iconographie de l’art profane au Moyen-Age et a la Renaissance
et la décoration des demeures. 2 vols. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1931-1932. Frick -
Reference - iN5940/N34
A discursive survey of secular themes in medieval and renaissance art.
Pigler, Andor. Barockthemen: ein Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17.
und 18. Jahrhunderts. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Budapest: Verlag der Ungarischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 1956. Frick - Reference - N6410/P63/1956
Lists treatments of biblical subjects (v. 1) and classical mythology (v. 2) in Baroque
painting. Vol. 3 is selective, black-and-white plate vol. Information provided under
each theme includes a list of references describing the scene plus a list of artists woh
depicted it. Many works are abbreviated; list of abbreviations is provided in the back
of each volume.
Preston, Percy. A Dictionary of Pictorial Subjects from Classical Literature: A Guide to
Their Identification in Works of Art. New York: Scribner, 1983. Hillman Library –
Reference – Ground floor – N7760/P68/1983
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Roach, William. The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes. 5
vols. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949 - . Hillman Library –
PQ1445/P2R6
Tervarent, Guy de. Attributs et symboles dans l'art profane, 1450-1600: dictionnaire
d'un langage perdu. 3 vols. Geneva: Droz, 1958-64. Frick – N7740/T33
The Vulgate Cersion of the Arthurian Romances. Ed. by H. Oskar Sommer. 8 vols.
Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution, 1908-1916. Hillman Library –
PQ1314/A788/1908
*”The person who knows where information is, as good as has it.” – Brunetiere No. 22 – Rev. 8/21/07
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