Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art

1072 Pages·1998·18.949 MB·English

by  Helene E. Roberts

ENCYCLOPEDIA
of
Comparative Iconography
ENCYCLOPEDIA
of
Comparative Iconography
THEMES DEPICTED IN WORKS OF ART
VOLUME 1 & 2
A–Z
Editor
Helene E. Roberts
FITZROY DEARBORN PUBLISHERS
CHICAGO •LONDON
Copyright © 1998 by
FITZROYDEARBORNPUBLISHERS
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in
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ISBN 1-57958-009-2
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data is available.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
First published in the USA and UK 1998
Typeset by Proof Positive/Farrowlyne Associates, Inc., Evanston, Illinois
Printed by Publishers’ Graphics LLC, Carol Stream, Illinois
Cover illustration:
Joos van Cleve, St. Jerome in His Study,circa 1524–1530, oil on wood
panel, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum
(Courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums,
Gift of Howland Warren, Dr. Richard P. Warren, and Mrs. Grayson
M. P. Murphy)
CONTENTS
editor’s note and guide to usage page vii
alphabetical list of entries xi
general reading list xiii
encyclopedia entries a–ZZz 1-957
notes on contributors 969
index of ancient mythological and historical personages, places,
and concepts 975
index of judeo-christian personages, places, and concepts 989
index of references to the bible and other sacred books 1001
index of other cultures, religions, and mythologies 1007
index of artists and works of art 1011
index of authors, literary texts, composers, filmmakers, and folktales 1051
index of other names and terms 1065
’
EDITOR S NOTE
AND GUIDE TO USAGE
S
everal years ago, in the span of one weekend, I saw performances of two operas based on the
Orpheus story: Claudio Monteverdi’s La favola d’Orfeo and Philip Glass’s Orphee. During the same
weekend, Jean Cocteau’s film Orphée, on which the Glass opera was based, could be seen in Boston,
as could Black Orpheus, the Brazilian film based on the same Greek myth. I also could have seen paint-
ings based on the Orpheus narrative by Giovanni da San Giovanni, Odilon Redon, and George
Frederic Watts at Harvard University’s Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and by
Eugène Delacroix, and probably other artists, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
A Greek myth that was the subject of poems in the seventh century B.C.was, 27centuries later, still
intriguing audiences and inspiring artists, novelists, poets, and composers. Not only did the Orpheus
myth impress in its ability to endure, but it also impressed in its ability to sustain metamorphoses into
a variety of forms, genres, and interpretations. Although the core of the original story remained rec-
ognizable, the varied presentations and the meanings to be garnered from them amounted to transfor-
mations. The Orpheus story is only one of many narratives from mythology, religion, and literature
that animate the world’s art. Without a knowledge of these narratives, much of that art is closed to
modern interpretation and understanding.
It is the purpose of this encyclopedia to show the variety of uses to which these narratives and other
themes have been put in the history of art and to discuss some of the changing interpretations as the
themes pass through different ages, cultures, and forms. This encyclopedia orders iconographic narra-
tives—in particular biblical, mythological, and literary texts—according to actions performed by the
characters, to situations in which they find themselves, and to concepts relating to these situations and
actions. Under the letter “A,” for example, instead of relating the stories of Aaron, Aeneas, and
Ariadne, as many iconographic dictionaries do, this encyclopedia treats the themes of abandonment,
vii
viii editor’s note and guide to usage
abduction, and adultery. The authors discuss the major relevant iconographic narratives incorporating
the theme, mention other less known narratives, and discuss the historical background of themes. The
authors also pay attention to differences in the visual presentation of a theme, in particular to differ-
ences between the biblical and mythological treatments of the theme. They also suggest how a theme
has evolved through time.
The essays also discuss various personifications, allegories, gestures, characteristics, and other sub-
jects that recur in works of art. Essays on themes such as abundance, caricature, communion,
fools/folly, pointing/indicating, and upside down trace the various ways these themes have been given
different form and how they have been used for different purposes in art through the ages.
There are many excellent volumes available that retell the mythological, religious, and literary nar-
ratives that provide the iconographic sources for works of art and even some—although the number
is fewer—that list and discuss works of art related to these themes. Furthermore, there are many mono-
graphs and articles that treat individual subjects—and the works of art that depict them—in detail.
Although these excellent and irreplaceable studies exist (many of them are included in the lists of fur-
ther reading in this encyclopedia), what is lacking are works that relate these various narratives and
subjects to each other according to the similarities of their plots, situations, or imagery. Few existing
reference books discuss how the descriptions relate to the works of art, and only a few of these exist-
ing studies discuss the differences in nuance and focus given to these subjects throughout history and
in various cultures. There is, in fact, no reference volume that uses a comparative method to describe
the use of iconography in art or that is organized from the point of view of actions, situations, or con-
cepts, rather than by the personages in mythological, biblical, or literary narratives.
In many of these essays particular attention is paid to gestures, costumes, composition, and other
techniques of visual expression associated with the themes. Many authors also include works of art by
artists who have been neglected in the traditional histories of Western art. A list of “Selected Works of
Art” that depict each theme and a “Further Reading” for each essay provide more sources of infor-
mation about the themes and about the relevant works of art that depict them.
Because the telling of a narrative—or relaying a description of a theme—from a single source is like
taking a snapshot in time, the collection of such narratives, themes, or snapshots from different ages,
genres, and cultures forms a valuable album of photographs. From such an album one can compare,
contrast, analyze, discover patterns, and make generalizations about how different artists and societies
have appropriated narratives and themes. In fact, only through the comparison and analysis of many
individual instances can patterns be isolated.
The contributors to this encyclopedia make several kinds of comparisons relevant to each theme.
Several different narratives incorporating the theme are compared in essays. The sources of the narra-
tives may range from ancient and classical mythology, to the great religions of the world, to literature,
folktales, and popular culture. The essay on the theme of adultery, for example, compares the classi-
cal myths (including the adultery of Zeus with Danaë, Leda, and Europa and the adultery of Venus
and Mars, Venus and Adonis, Paris and Helen, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Tarquin and Lucretia)
with the Arthurian legends (Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Yseult), with the Christian narratives
(David and Bathsheba, Susanna and the elders, Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, Christ and the woman
taken in adultery), and with secular themes (including William Hogarth’s Marriage à la Mode and
Augustus Egg’s Victorian Past and Present). The contributors may also compare the story line of a nar-
rative to the way it is visualized in a work of art. The essay on apocalypse, for example, traces the way
the biblical texts from the Book of Daniel and Revelation are depicted in different styles, from the
Mozarabic style of the eighth-century Spanish monk Beatus of Liebana, through the more elegant,
courtly style of English Apocalypse manuscripts and the large-scale French tapestries from Angers of
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The author also includes discussions of the woodcuts of
Albrecht Dürer and those of Lucas Cranach, complete with Protestant propaganda, as well as the
watercolors of William Blake and the lithographs of Odilon Redon and Max Beckmann. The com-
parative method may extend this difference to discuss the way a narrative or concept is treated in the
different genres of literature and of art, with especial focus on the comic and the symbolic.
The essays also trace the various interpretations given to a theme during different periods and cul-
tures to account for varying social and political beliefs. A people defines itself through the configura-
tions of its literary, religious, and mythical narratives. When a society begins to see itself in a different
light, that change is often announced by a recasting of favorite stories or the introduction of new ones.
In the essay on abandonment, for example, the focus in the narrative of the abandonment of Ariadne
by Theseus shifts from the Greeks, who, wishing to absolve their hero Theseus of any guilt, show him
unwillingly being led from the sleeping Ariadne by imperious gods or goddesses, to the Victorians,
who, obsessed with the victimized female, focus on the distress of the abandoned Ariadne.
editor’s note and guide to usage ix
Many of the authors compare the situation described in the narratives with the realities of history.
This comparative analysis can reveal national aspirations and fears, changes in economic and political
fortunes, as well as sources of present-day customs and conventions. The author of the essay on abduc-
tion, for example, traces the laws and mores of various cultures condoning or condemning abduction
and shows how vestiges of some of the ancient practices are still retained in modern marriage rituals.
The essay even alludes to twentieth-century humans who claim they have been abducted by aliens from
outer space, which have been identified in one case with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Like the allu-
sive reflections of historical memory in ancient mythology, even the more secular present can conflate
fact and fiction into new myths, especially when it comes to powerful images.
Although every essay uses one or more of these comparative approaches (narratives, styles and peri-
ods, interpretations, historical reality), few can use all of them within the confines of the allotted space.
No restrictions have been placed on the authors in terms of form, structure, or content of their essays;
furthermore, the variety of the authors’ backgrounds and areas of expertise ensure that a diversity of
approaches are represented. Although most of the authors were trained in the methods of traditional
art history, they all share an interest in the subject and context of a work of art and do not confine
themselves to the older traditional concerns of attribution, style, and form.
Art historical studies have shifted from a concentration on attribution, style, and form to a concern
with the context of a work of art and with the wider ramifications of its subject matter. Art historians
have broken down the enclosed world of stylistic influence to study the relation of works of art to his-
toric events and economic forces, to psychological phenomenon and sociological findings, and to lin-
guistic analysis and philosophic theories. Because of these changes, many people are interested not only
in the style and form of a work of art but also in the human dynamics of the narratives and themes
and their permeations and permutations. Art historians now study the themes depicted in works of art
in relation to such subjects as gender and sexuality, politics and power, ownership and possession, cer-
emony and ritual, legitimacy and authority. It is the hope that this encyclopedia, by incorporating these
perspectives, will add new insights to old iconographic usages.
Classical mythology, religious texts, and literary works provide such a rich imbroglio of relation-
ships, situations, and associations that they have been appropriated for a variety of uses. The narra-
tives describe instances of rape, ruination, empowerment, victimization, and inexplicable fortune, not
to mention their descriptions of inescapable guilt, hubris, greed, pride, arrogance, passion, metamor-
phosis, sexual and gender ambiguities, courage, cowardice, and a host of other universal human
predicaments. Each narrative is open to interpretation because of the shifting perspectives of diverse
agendas. This encyclopedia is not a comprehensive guide to all narratives and all themes, but it pre-
sents some of the revealing comparisons that can be found in artistic depictions of these narratives.
These comparisons, along with the “Selected Works of Art” and “Further Reading” that accompany
each essay, suggest subject areas and directions for further research.
Each essay opens with a “title page” that lists the title and author of the essay and an outline of
iconographic narratives, motifs, or periods covered. A work of art that depicts the theme precedes the
discussion.
The encyclopedia also provides seven extensive indexes. The “Index of Ancient Mythological and
Historical Personages, Places, and Concepts” allows the user to find and identify all references in the
essays to the ancient and classical world, including ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia as well as ancient
Greece and Rome. In this index the reader can find all the ancient gods, goddesses, heroes, and hero-
ines mentioned in the essays (Achilles, Artemis, and Aeneas, as well as Horus, Ishtar, and Inanna);
places, real and imaginary (Hades, Pompeii, Sardanapolus, and Thebes, for example); and personages
(Akhenaton, Hammurabi, Socrates, and Hadrian, among many others). The indexes can also reveal
the web of associations that characterize each narrative and concept. This first index, for example,
reveals the many aspects of the story of Orpheus that are discussed in various essays. The most extend-
ed discussion, as one might guess, is to be found in the essay on love and death, but Orpheus is also
covered in the essay on music, which discusses his ability to charm animals with his music as well as
his associations with Apollo, David, and Jesus Christ. The essay on shepherds and shepherdesses also
notes Orpheus’s frequent depiction with animals and his affinity in this regard with some depictions of
David. Orpheus is also discussed in Light I where, through mystical cults, he becomes associated with
renewal, rebirth, and the light achieved after death. The essay on beheading notes how the head of
Orpheus after death became an oracle of prophecy. The essay on automata alludes to this oracle head
as possibly one of the masks, in a primitive form of automation, that imitated “speaking” as the wind
blew through specially positioned holes. Orpheus’s journeys, especially his journey to the underworld,
are discussed in Journey/Flight; the fatal temptation to look at his beloved wife, Eurydice, in Gaze; and
the death of Eurydice in Serpent’s Bite.
x editor’s note and guide to usage
In a similar fashion another index, the “Index of Judeo-Christian Personages, Places, and
Concepts,” lists the personages from the Old and New Testaments mentioned in the essays (Aaron,
Abel, Abigail, Jesus Christ, Mary, John the Baptist) as well as places (Caanan, Jerusalem), saints
(Agatha, Ambrose, Augustine), theological concepts (Immaculate Conception, incarnation), historical
personages (Pope Innocent III, Martin Luther), and movements (Counter-Reformation, pietism,
Society of Jesus) connected with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary are
mentioned and discussed in many essays as are many of the saints (John the Baptist in 20, Mary
Magdalene in 15, Stephen in 4, Ursula in 3, and Philip and Regis in 1each). Judas is discussed in 12
essays, the Last Judgment in 20, Martin Luther in 5, the menorah in 5, and the Antichrist in 4.
The “Index of References to the Bible and Other Sacred Books” lists specific references to texts cited
in the essays. The “Index of Other Cultures, Religions, and Mythologies” includes references to the
names and terms of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam, as well as those of the Aztec, African, Inuit,
Celtic, Norse, and Native American cultures mentioned in the essays.
An “Index of Authors, Literary Texts, Composers, Filmmakers, and Folktales” includes such icono-
graphic sources as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Ovid’s Fasti and Metamorphoses, Cesare Ripa’s
Iconologia, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Arthur Rimbaud’s Saison en enfer, as well as
Arthurian legends, Shakespearean plays, and Wagnerian operas. One of the more extensive indexes
lists the artists mentioned in the essays and the lists of “Selected Works of Art” that accompany each
essay. Anonymous works of art as well as known artists are included.
The “Index of Other Names and Terms” concentrates on those names and topics that complement
the themes of the essays but are not themselves mythological, religious, or literary entities included in
the other indexes. The intent of this index is to concentrate on those terms and names with icono-
graphic associations. Under “A,” for example, the reader can find a list of objects, such as apple(s) or
absinthe, that have been mentioned as bearing clues to the meaning of scenes, as well as concepts and
activities (abyss and alchemy) that are themes with a whole panoply of iconographic import, but that
could not be included in separate essays. The themes of the essays themselves are also included in this
index so that a reader can find additional, related discussions. Also listed are persons (Prince Albert
and Jane Avril, for example) whom the authors see as becoming icons because of the way an artist
depicts them or because of the position they play in a cultural context. Genre terms (allegory) and artis-
tic movements (abstract impressionism) are also included in this index.
A general reading list of reference books that cover the mythological, religious, or literary narra-
tives are listed separately from the essays and can be used in connection with all the essays. In order
to avoid duplication, the “Further Reading” that accompanies each essay includes only references
relating to the particular theme under discussion and refers to works in the general bibliography only
when particular citations are made. The user of this encyclopedia should therefore be aware that for
further research, both types of bibliographies are relevant.
The compilation of this encyclopedia, at least in its present form, would have been much more dif-
ficult, if not impossible, without the existence of two reference works: Henri van de Waal’s ICON-
CLASS: An Iconographic Classification System in 17 volumes, with its extremely helpful index and
bibliography, and the Getty Art History Information Program’s Union List of Artists (ULAN), com-
piled by James M. Bower, which, because it could be mounted on my computer, made the consistent
editing of artists’ names possible.
I would like to thank the people who have helped with this encyclopedia. The greatest credit goes
to the individual contributors who have accommodated their extensive research and expertise to the
pattern set. Their perceptions and imaginative insights into the use of mythic, religious, and literary
themes give this encyclopedia its primary value. Special thanks go to Margaret A. Sullivan and Jeanne
Marie (Monie) Adams for their sage advice on crucial decisions about the organization of this ency-
clopedia, to Jay Hurd for his help with initial mailings, and to Jennifer Skoda for all her help in check-
ing details in the “Selected Works of Art” and the bibliographies.
HELENE E.ROBERTS
EDITOR
ALPHABETICAL LIST
OF ENTRIES
Volume 1 Calumny by Claire Lindgren
Caricature/Cartoon by Margaret A. Sullivan
Abandonment by Helene E. Roberts
Choice/Choosing by Elizabeth Powers
Abduction/Rape by Andrew Stephen Arbury
Comic by Barry Wind
Abundance by Liana De Girolami Cheney
Communion by Valerie (Hutchinson) Pennanen
Adultery by Sarah S. Gibson
Crucifixion by Alicia Craig Faxon
Annunciation by Don Denny
Apocalypse by Don Denny
Damned Souls by Alicia Craig Faxon and Nancy
Apotheosis/Deification by Claire Lindgren
Frazier
Arms Raised by Dimitri Hazzikostas
Dance/Dancers/Dancing by Alicia Craig Faxon
Artists/Art by Julie F. Codell
Dawn/Dawning by Rudolf M. Bisanz
Ascent/Descent by Paul Grimley Kuntz and
Death by Elaine Shefer
Lee Braver
Destruction of City by Eugene Dwyer
Automata by Karen Pinkus
Avarice by Priscilla Baumann Devotion/Piety by Rudolf M. Bisanz
Dreams/Visions by Elaine Shefer
ˆ
Bacchanalia/Orgy by Sarah S. Gibson Drunkenness/Intoxication byBeth S. Gersh-Nesic
Baptism by Don Denny
Bath/Bathing by Alicia Craig Faxon Ecstasy by Valerie (Hutchinson) Pennanen
Beheading/Decapitation by Diane Apostolos- Envy by Eugene Dwyer
Cappadona Evil Eye by Eugene Dwyer
Betrayal by Gina Strumwasser Excess by Eugene Dwyer
ˆ
Birth/Childbirth by Beth S. Gersh-Nesic Expulsion by Sarah S. Gibson and Paul Grimley Kuntz
xi