Studies in Iconology - by Erwin Panofsky

With Aby Warburg we have opened up a broader horizon in the field of art criticism, or rather, a new vision of iconology, for if previously the latter was defined simply as the study of subjects associated with themes and concepts, it is now configured as a study associated with other humanities, whereby the work itself would be the bearer of a certain culture, class, religious or philosophical belief.

This idea was continued by Erwin Panofsky, who in his Studies in Iconology, published in 1939 in the United States and received by the conservative public with great shock and distrust, divides the interpretation of the artwork into three levels: pre-iconographic description, iconographic analysis in a narrow sense, to arrive at the intrinsic meaning or content of the work. Necessary baggage for the first level is practical experience, familiarity with objects and events, but this does not always apply to giving a correct preiconographic description, so we resort to the history of style, that is, the way in which under different historical conditions objects and events have been expressed through forms.

Studies in Iconology by Erwin Panofsky

Similarly, for the second level, knowledge of literary sources is necessary, but when discrepancies appear, recourse is made to the history of types, that is, the way in different historical conditions specific themes were expressed through objects and events. One example Panofsky cites is Francesco Maffei’s Judith, which has been referred to as a portrait of Salome with the head of St. John the Baptist. The painting features a young woman holding a sword and a plate on which she lays the head of a beheaded man. The situation is this: the head of St. John the Baptist was brought to Salome on a platter, but the saint was not killed by her herself, so the sword in the painting would be a discordant element, while Judith beheaded Holofernes with the sword but the platter does not agree with the Bible, which would state that the head was placed in a sack. Literary sources alone, therefore, are not sufficient, however, there are 16th-century paintings in Germany and northern Italy depicting Judith with a plate while no type of Salome with a sword appears. Moreover, the sword is an honorific attribute of Judith and many martyrs and could not be attributed to a lascivious maiden.

The intrinsic meaning of the work should be in accordance with the religious, philosophical and social trends of the artist, the era or the country that the art historian investigates.

After presenting two painting cycles by Piero di Cosimo representing human prehistory, i.e., the epoch before, contemporary with and after Vulcan, the latter taken as a reference since he would be the personification of fire and its discovery, Panofsky shows how the Renaissance has as its main characteristic the reintegration of classical motifs and themes through the reinterpretation of classical images, as opposed to the medieval period that saw a clear opposition between paganism and Christianity. A strange phenomenon occurred, the pseudomorphosis, whereby some Renaissance figures, although they had an apparently classical appearance, did not turn out to be depicted in the same way in antiquity: examples of this case are Father Time and the blind Cupid.

The book goes on to present the Neoplatonic movement, in particular showing the difference between that typical of Florence and that typical of northern Italy, and even more specifically between Florence and Venice, between Bandinelli and Titian. While the Florentine art is based on drawing, the Venetian art is based on harmony and color. The contrast is highlighted by two different works: Baccio Bandinelli’s Combattimento tra Ragione e Amore and Titian’s lAmorsacro e profano.The last chapter is devoted to the great Michelangelo’s Neoplatonism, a movement that influenced his life and works, as it was almost a way of life for him.

Erwin Panofsky’s Studies in Iconology is a very important book in art history, as was that of his master Warburg, but comparing them Panofsky comes across as much more understandable and clear than the latter, presenting the topics with great communicative and discursive skill, making almost everything easier to understand. A book definitely worth reading and remembering!

Studies in Iconology
by Erwin Panofsky
in the Einaudi edition, 2009
387 pp.
32 €

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