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Iconography: Background

The tabs above offer various types of resources for your research in iconography such as dictionaries and encyclopedias of specific symbols, books and articles about symbols in art, online image databases, and key print indexes with examples of artworks depicting objects used as symbols. Be sure to consult other related subject guides including Classical Mythology and Classical Studies.

Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434.

Online Encyclopedia of Art | Start Here

Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window Comprehensive encyclopedia of art, with authoritative and comprehensive reference sources for all visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, drawing, printmaking, design, and decorative arts. Includes links to images from libraries and museums. Contains: Grove Art Online, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Concise Oxford, and The Dictionary of Art Terms. We have 8 simultaneous users.

Symbols in Art | E-books and print (level 5)

Hall. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. 2008.
HumRef N 7560 .H34 2008
Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography. 2 vols. E-book + print
HumRef N 7560 .E53 1998 + E-book
Themes contain critical essay, works of art depicting specific themes, and bibliography.
Carr-Gomm. Hidden Symbols in Art. 2001.
HumRef N 7740 .C34 2001
* Pigler. Barockthemen: eine auswahl von verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. 1974. 3 vols.
HumRef N 6415 .B3 P5 1974
1956 ed. in N 6410 .P5 2 vols.
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Illustrated list of works of art depicting Baroque themes used during the 17th and 18th centuries. Vol. 1: religious subjects; vol. 2: profane. Under each theme, there is a brief list of references describing the scene plus a list of artists who depicted it.
Mâle. Religious Art in France: From the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries. 1982.
N 7949 .M34x
Mâle. The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century.
N 7949 .M29213x 1972 + E-book
Friedlander. Early Netherlandish Painting. 1967-1976. 14 vols. ND 631 .F713

Guides to the Study of Iconography

Grbich. Iconology and Iconography: Describing, Classifying, and Interpreting Religious and Artistic Objects. 2015.
E-book
Alciato.The Routledge Companion to Medieval Iconography.
HumRef N 5975 .R68 2017 + E-book

Guide to Imagery Series

The Getty has published the Guide to Imagery series of books on useful topics studied in iconography:

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