iconography

noun

ico·​nog·​ra·​phy ˌī-kə-ˈnä-grə-fē 

plural iconographies

1

: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject

2

: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject

3

: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art

4

: iconology

Did you know?

If you saw a 17th-century painting of a man writing at a desk with a lion at his feet, would you know you were looking at St. Jerome, translator of the Bible, who, according to legend, once pulled a thorn from the paw of a lion, which thereafter became his devoted friend? And if a painting showed a young woman reclining on a bed with a shower of gold descending on her, would you recognize her as Danaë, locked up in a tower to keep her away from the lustful Zeus, who then managed to gain access to her by transforming himself into golden light (or golden coins)? An iconographic approach to art can make museum-going a lot of fun—and amateur iconographers know there are also plenty of symbols lurking in the images that advertisers bombard us with daily.

Examples of iconography in a Sentence

the iconography of the 1960s

Recent Examples on the Web

In theory, that sounds like a fine way of interpolating the iconography of Jackson’s trilogy — the fortress of Isengard in particular — into an anime world. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 9 Dec. 2024

Advertisement Kurzel presents the iconography of America’s off-the-grid militia members — flags, swastikas, flyers in bars inviting the curious to meetings — with admirable straightforwardness. —Joshua Rothkopf, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2024

Thus far, shoppers have been finding it organically via the search fashion iconography on DoorDash, Cook said. —Rosemary Feitelberg, WWD, 4 Dec. 2024

The revamp to the Windows Hello experience is now in beta testing with Windows Insiders, and includes visual changes, new iconography, and improvements to passkeys. —Tom Warren, The Verge, 1 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin īconographia "making of images," borrowed from Greek eikonographía "sketch, description" (Late Greek, "making of images"), from eikono- icono- + -graphia -graphy

First Known Use

1678, in the meaning defined at sense 2