UHVP0006 Iconography for Monument's Preservation - Credit A

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Winter 2014
Extent and Intensity
0/3/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Ing. Jaromír Olšovský, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Ing. Jaromír Olšovský, Ph.D.
Institute of Historical Sciences – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Prerequisites
The fundamental knowledge of terms from art history, history of Christianity and the Antic mythology.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The seminar is based on the recognition of the importance of iconography, which plays a key role in the study and understanding of the specific themes of works of art and iconographical oriented art history, which compared to formal-analytical approaches emphasize the thematic content. The aim is to teach students the basic knowledge and skills that will enable them to deal with the demands placed on them by a work of art in connection with the recognition of the themes and contents of artworks. Especially for the older art, i.e. the art before the establishment of modernism, this knowledge is essential. The seminar would be developed in both theoretical and practical approaches. In the theoretical part students would be familiar with the basic reference books and dictionaries necessary to recognize the subject and iconographic description of the artwork. The examples of fundamental iconological approaches to art (Aby Warburg, Erwin Panofsky, E.H Gombrich) would be presented, also with the basic knowledge from bible studies and biblical hermeneutics, basic iconography of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and the saints relevant to art history in the Bohemian lands. Also profane iconography (emblematics, hieroglyfics, allegories and personification, ancient mythology and ideas of the ancient history of the Renaissance and Baroque iconography) would be important for this seminar course. The seminar also discusses the current trends applied in the interpretation of works of art (psychoanalytic approach, sociological, receptive and aesthetic approaches) and current theories of meaning. The seminar will be based on Christian and secular iconography practiced in demonstrations.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to the bibliography, the basic concepts of iconography and iconology, iconography and iconology as a theory and discipline, iconography and iconology as an object of study-preliminary part of the modern iconographic approach to works of art - Anton Heinrich Springer, Christian iconography-Emile Male, Louis Réau, Karl Künstle, Ernst Cassirer and his philosophy of symbolic forms
    2 The main personalities and founders of modern iconography and iconology as a specific art historical methods and their basic texts: from Erwin Panofsky to M. Warburg and his cultural-historical institute, the Warburg research topics and themes - the problem of survival of the ancient world and Warburg´s project of Mnemosyne, forms pathos - Ernst H. Gombrich and his Symbolic Images.
    3. Sociological approach to art and its meaning - Michael Baxandall, psychoanalytic attempts to interpret a work of art - the case of S. Freud and his interpretation of Leonardo's St. Anne with Child and Virgin Mary and Meyer Schapiro´s critic, Michel Foucault and his interpretation Velazquez´s Las Meninas and debate on the interpretation of this work.
    4. Erwin Panofsky and iconographic analysis of the Gothic cathedral, Francis A. Yates and her research areas - analysis of Rosecrucian Movement (The Rosenkcrucian Enlightenment), The Art of Memory (The Art of Memory), Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition)
    5. Christian iconography, introduction to Christian and biblical iconography: the basics of biblical studies and biblical hermeneutics, the basic manuals, encyclopedias and compendia for the Study of Biblical and Christian iconography, historical excursion - early Christian iconography, the dispute about images in the 8th and 9th centuries, a new concept of image in the late Middle Ages, the role of image in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.
    6. Systematic excursion into Christian iconography: biblical themes on the wall paintings, book illustration and typography, liturgical prayer books in the Middle Ages, the typology of the Old and New Testaments as the exegetical method of interpreting the Bible, the extension of the biblical canon (Jewish sources, biblical commentaries, apocrypha and legends related to the true portrait of Christ, meditative literature, devotional images, called Andachtsbilder)
    7. Christ iconography - typology of basic Christological themes and images of Jesus Christ from the Late Antiquity and Early Christianity after the late Baroque.
    8. Marian iconography - Marian typology of basic themes and images from the Carolingian period to the late Baroque.
    9. Iconography of the Saints - the most important themes of the Baroque period: St. John of Nepomuk, St. Florian, St. John Sarkandr, St. Wenceslas, St. Hedwig, St. Adalbert, honor patron saints, etc., exemplary lives of the saints: St. Wenceslaus legend in the cycle of Karel Škréta, Nepomuk legend in the painting and sculptural work.
    10. Symbols and personifications (early Christian symbols, iconography of God the Father, Physiologus, Ecclesia and Synagogue, cyclic and numerological topics: Seven Liberal Arts (Septem artes liberales), Virtues and Vices, Seven Deadly Sins, The Four Temperaments, The Four Seasons, Five Elements, problem of hidden symbolism.
    11. Introduction to profane iconography - the basic literature, manuals, dictionaries and sources for Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque iconography and themes, symbolism, hieroglyphics and emblematics, allegories and personification, mythological themes, historical painting (istoria), case studies of iconography: Leonard´s Homo bene Figurata and the theme of macrocosm and microcosm, Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Albrecht Dürer and his Melancholy, Titian's Apollo and Marsyas in Kroměříž.
    12. The iconography of the Enlightenment, Masonry societies and their symbols, the iconography of the late Baroque and Enlightenment aest
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Frank Büttner - Andrea Gottdank. Einführung in die Ikonographie. Wege zur Deutung von Bildinhalten. München 2006. info
  • Pavel Preiss. Panoráma manýrismu. Kapitoly o umění a kultuře 16. století. Praha 1974. info
  • Lurker, M. Slovník symbolů. Praha 2005. info
  • Jiří Kroupa. Školy dějin umění. Metodologie dějin umění I. Brno 1996, skripta FF MU Brno. info
  • Erwin Panofsky. Význam ve výtvarném umění, Praha 1981. info
  • Petr Pokorný (ed.) a kol. Hermeneutika jako teorie porozumění. Od základních otázek jazyka k výkladu bible. Praha, 2005. info
  • Otto Pächt. kap. Les limites de l´iconographie. In: Questions de méthode en histoire de l´art. Paris, 1994. info
  • Petr Pokorný. Literární a teologický úvod do Nového Zákona. Praha, 1993. info
  • James Hall. Slovník námětů a symbolů ve výtvarném umění. Praha, 1991. info
  • kol. autorů. Slovník antické kultury. Praha, 1974. info
  • Guy de Tervarent. Attributs et symboles dans l´art profane 1450-1600. Dictionnaire d´un langage perdu. Geneve, 1958. info
  • A.Pigler. Barockthemen, Eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. Und 18. Jahrhunderts. Band I-II. Budapest, 1956. info
  • Karl Künstle. Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, Band I-II. Freiburg am Breisgau 1928. Budapest, 1956. info
Assessment methods
Test
Written exam
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
* Active participation in the seminar
* the ability to work independently with literature
* writing a seminar paper (iconographic description and analysis of the selected work of art)
* passing the test of practical iconography, including the identification of themes selected examples of works of art (painting, sculpture)
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2007, Winter 2008, Winter 2009, Winter 2010, Winter 2011, Winter 2012, Winter 2013, Winter 2015, Winter 2016, Winter 2017, Winter 2018, Winter 2019, Winter 2020, Winter 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2014, recent)
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