iconologia

Iconologia, or iconology, is a field within art history and visual studies that studies the symbolic meaning of images and their cultural, religious, and philosophical associations. It seeks to understand how images convey ideas, values, and worldviews beyond their literal subjects.

Modern iconology emerged in the early 20th century with Aby Warburg’s Bildwissenschaft and was further developed by Erwin Panofsky. Panofsky proposed a threefold analytic for images: the pre-iconographic level (describing visible subject matter), the iconographic level (identifying conventional motifs and narratives), and the iconological level (interpreting their broader cultural, philosophical, and social meanings within historical context). Warburg emphasized long-range cultural memory, symbol systems, and the transmission of images across time and cultures.

Iconology differs from iconography: iconography catalogs subjects and motifs; iconology seeks underlying meanings shaped by religion, politics, and ideology, considering production, reception, and function in specific contexts. Its methods are interdisciplinary, drawing on philosophy, theology, literature, and social history, and often integrate formal analysis with textual sources and archival evidence.

Its scope covers medieval and Renaissance allegory, Baroque emblematic programs, and modern visual culture, including film and digital imagery. Notable figures include Warburg, Panofsky, and later scholars who stress image as a form of knowledge and cultural memory. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably in common language, in scholarly practice iconology emphasizes the interpretive, context-driven meaning of images, complementing the descriptive work of iconography.