Practicing Iconography Essay

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Practicing Iconography Katherine Campbell Art 101 April 4, 2010 University of Phoenix Axia College Cultural conventions are frequently carried onward from one generation to the next by means of iconography. Iconography is a system of visual images. The meaning of these images is broadly understood by a given culture or cultural group. These visual images are symbols, but these symbols represent more than just their literal meaning. “The subject matter of iconographic images is not obvious to any viewer unfamiliar with the symbolic system in use.”(Sayre, 2010, p 32) This is because each individual culture has its particular iconographic practices. These particular iconographic practices include a system of images that are recognized by the culture to mean specific things. Two artists that show significant signs of iconography along with respective roles of the artists are Leonardo da Vinci and Peter Paul Rubens. Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the last supper, which he began work on in 1495 and finish in 1498 is a perfect example of iconography. In this painting Jesus is shown sitting in the middle of a table with his apostles surrounding him, this illustrations that he is providing the dinner to the other at the table. Jesus holding his hands outreached towards the food signifies that he was offering the food to the apostles. The bread and fish that are throughout the table symbolize the food that he multiplied to allow everyone to eat. This painting embraces many significant iconographic details. Peter Paul Ruben’s painting of the Raising of the cross, that was created in 1610-1611 also display examples of iconography. This painting is separated into three parts, left, center and right. The center of the painting draws your eye which shows Jesus on the cross, but the left and right parts of the painting hold significance. On the left panel the

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