This document discusses the field of iconography in art history. Iconography involves identifying, describing, and interpreting the symbolic meaning and content of images in works of art. The document provides an analysis of the various symbols and their meanings depicted in Albrecht Durer's 1513 engraving "Knight, Death and Devil". These symbols include the knight's armor, the devil touching the armor, an hourglass, snakes, dogs, a lizard, and a tree stump, and explain their symbolic meanings regarding themes of mortality, loyalty, imperviousness and original sin. The text also asks questions about identifying an artist's intentions from titles and images, and articulating personal reactions to works of art.
1. Iconography …the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek εἰκών "image" and γράφειν "to write"
9. An allusion to the king’s vanity is his head wreathed in snakes, which invokes the myth of Medusa, the most famous and the only mortal of the three Gorgones. A beautiful maiden made a mistake comparing herself to the goddess Athena who jealously turned Medusa's beautiful curls into hissing snakes.
10. Dogs are used in Renaissance artworks as iconography for the watchful and loyal. We still consider dogs to be “Man’s best friend” and a symbol of loyalty. It was also believed dogs could see in the dark.
11. The Knight continues to travel down a path passing a Lizard (or salamander?): they were thought to be impervious to fire and flames.
15. Can you identify, describe, and interpret the content of images in an artwork? Does a title help you to understand the artist intentions, the function or purpose of the artwork? When you Look and See an artwork using an informed personal reaction to it are you able to articulate that reaction..tell us about what you see or feel when considering an individual work of art?
Editor's Notes
The Knight, Death and the Devil is world renowned and one of the greatest compositions ever devised, not only for its surface meaning but also for the iconography used in the execution. Once you begin to launch your own investigation, you will open your mind to impossible possibilities.
Here the dog could be interpreted as the loyalty of the knight to Christianity and his moral beliefs.
The Knight, Death and the Devil is world renowned and one of the greatest compositions ever devised, not only for its surface meaning but also for the iconography used in the execution. Once you begin to launch your own investigation, you will open your mind to impossible possibilities.
