Logo UAB

Iconography

Code: 100541 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500239 Art History FB 1

Contact

Name:
Nuria Llorens Moreno
Email:
nuria.llorens@uab.cat

Teachers

Miguel Carceller Sindreu

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

None. It would be desirable to have some knowledge in foreign languages (Reading Comprehension) in order to consult the specialized literature.


Objectives and Contextualisation

Context:

The subject, of basic training, is included in the subject "Art" (30 ECTS credits) and in it the concept of myth and its fundamental types that appear both in some non-European cultures and in the Greek and Roman classical antiquity.  Equally, the focus will be on the origin and development of the iconographic programs of Christianity and the representation of all of them. The subject proposes the analysis, through these symbolic repertoires, of the basic elements that form part of artistic production through the knowledge of the different pagan and Christian languages and their embodiment in the arts.

 

The contents of this subject are focused on two principal points:

I. To recognise the importance that the Iconography has as an instrumental discipline of Art History in order to do an adequate lecture of the images.

II. To understand that Iconography becomes the complementary tool in order to assimilate the expressional schemes and the meaning of the works of art studied in the other subjects.

 

Goals:

- To train the student in order to recognise the most usual iconographic cicles in Art.

- To enable to apply the theoretical contents of this subject to the analysis of the image.

- To identify and recognise the most important historiographic schools and the trends in Iconography.

- To know the specific bibliographic resources of the discipline.

- To have a good command of the most important iconographic repertoires.

- To consider the variety and the problems arisen about the images in the different cultures.

- To have a good command of the adequate historic-artistic vocabulary.


Competences

  • Applying the mastery of the basic critical and methodological tools in order to understand and narrate Art History and reflect on the profession of art historian.
  • Applying the specific scientific methodologies of the discipline of Art History.
  • Demonstrating they know the history of the artistic ideas and the main theoretical currents that inspired the reflection about art, cinema, its creators and its audience through history.
  • Expressing specific knowledge about the origin, evolution and various fields of study of Art History, as well as the classic and actual subjects, vocabulary and debates of the discipline.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing classical and current debates of the History of Art.
  2. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  3. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon, and its creators and recipients in a given cultural context.
  4. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  5. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  6. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  7. Applying the knowledge about aesthetic ideas and Art Theory to the analysis of the artistic imagery.
  8. Demonstrating the knowledge of scientific methodology, sources and Art Theory in the reading, criticism and formal, iconographic and symbolic interpretation of any artistic or cinematographic imagery.
  9. Differentiating artistic theories about an artistic phenomenon, its creators and recipients in a given cultural context.
  10. Recognising the methodological, iconographic and Art Theory-related knowledge in order to read an artistic imagery.
  11. Summarising acquired knowledge about the origin and transformations experienced by the general Theory of Art and the various fields of study of the discipline.
  12. Using the knowledge of general Art Theory in the criticism of the artistic imagery.
  13. Working in teams, respecting the other's points of view and designing collaboration strategies.

Content

1) Introduction. Questions of method and general concepts.

2) The semiotics of images. Application to the analysis of the iconography of non-European cultures.

3) The classical tradition and its reflection in art: Divinities and heroes.

4) The Christian image: From East to West.

5) Christian iconography: Old and New Testament. Hagiographic themes.

6) The power of the image and the iconography of power.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Theoretical and practical sessions in the classroom 45 1.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
Type: Supervised      
Methodological and bibliographic orientation 5 0.2 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 13
Type: Autonomous      
Readings 12 0.48 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10
study 80 3.2 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10

Theoretical and practical sessions.

Eventual conferences.

Methodological and bibliographic orientation.

Supervised activities.

 

Note: "15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the timetable established by the centre/title, for the complementation by the students of the assessment surveys of the teaching staff's performance and the assessment of the subject".

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Activity 1 40% 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12
Activity 2 40% 1.5 0.06 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Acvtivity 3 20% 5 0.2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13

Continuous Assessment:

  • Activity 1: 

Exam 1 (4.0 marks, 40 % of the final grade).

  •  Activity 2:

Exam 2 (4.0 marks, 40 % of the final grade).

  •  Activity 3: 

Essay based on a reflection (2 points, 20 % of the final grade).

 

  1. The final grade is the result of the sum of the grades obtained in the three aforementioned tests. Students must obtain at least 3.5 out of 10 in each of the activities to pass the course. If the student has only done some of the compulsory exercises (activities 1, 2 or 3) and he/she has passed them, he/she will get a "not assessable" when the general addition does not reach the pass or a superior mark. On the contrary, the student will get the mark that he/she has obtained.
  2. On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
  3. Only the students who have not passed and have sat for the three compulsory activities (1, 2 and 3) have the right to a reassessment - the date is set by the Faculty's Academic Management. The maximum mark of this reassessment is 5.
 

 Unique assessment:

 The exam-based assessment consists of 2 tests:

  • Individual project: 40% of the final grade.
  • Written test: 60% of the final grade.

 

Single assessment re-sit process:

  1. Students must have enrolled all the scheduled unique assessment activities to be able to have a second chance. The make-up process is only for students who have obtained an average grade of 3.5.
  2. If the tests cannot be taken in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB's virtual tools. Homework, activities and class participation will be done through forums, wikis and/or exercise discussions through Teams, etc. The teacher will ensure that the student can access it or will offer him or her alternative means that are within their reach.

 

Plagiarism:

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

 

 

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc.Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives. 

 


Bibliography

Primary sources:

ARNAU, Juan (ed.), Upanisad. Correspondencias ocultas, Alianza, Madrid, 2021.

ARNAU, Juan (ed.), Bhagavadgita, Alianza, Madrid, 2020.

ASSOCIACIÓ BÍBLICA DE CATALUNYA, La Bíblia, Barcelona, Claret, 1997.

CALVO MARTÍNEZ, José Luis (ed.), Los cuatro evangelios, Trotta, Madrid, 2022.

CREPON (ed.), Los evangelios apócrifos. Crónica del Nuevo Testamento. Edaf, Madrid, 2019.

HESÍODE, Teogonia, La Magrana, Barcelona, 1999.

HOMER, Odissea, La Casa dels Clàssics, Barcelona, 2011.

HOMER, Ilíada, La Casa dels Clàssics, Barcelona, 2019.

OVIDI, Metamorfosis, La Casa dels Clàssics, Barcelona, 2019.

 

Basic Bibliography:

AGHION, Irène – BARBILLON, Claire – LISSARRAGUE, François, Guía iconográfica de los héroes y dioses de la Antigüedad, Alianza, Madrid, 1997 (ed. original francesa: 1994).

BALLÓ, Jordi, La llavor inmortal: els arguments universals en el cinema, Empúries, Barcelona, 1995.

BURKE, Peter, Visto y no visto. El uso de la imagen como documento histórico, Crítica, Barcelona, 2001.

CALABRESE, Omar. Como Se Lee Una Obra De Arte, Madrid, 3a. ed., Ediciones Cátedra, 1999.

CARMONA MUELA, Juan, Iconografía cristiana. Guía básica para estudiantes, Colección Fundamentos, núm. 148, Istmo, Madrid, 1998 (hi ha reimpressions posteriors; també ha estat editat per Akal, Tres Cantos - Madrid - , 2008, havent-se reimprès l'any 2012).

CARMONA MUELA, Juan, Iconografía clásica. Guía para estudiantes, Colección Fundamentos, núm. 161, Istmo, Madrid, 2000 (reimprès amb posterioritat; també ha estat editat per Akal, Tres Cantos - Madrid -, 2008, havent-se reimprès l'any 2013).

CARMONA MUELA, Juan, Iconografía de los santos, Colección Fundamentos, núm. 214, Istmo, Madrid, 2003 (també ha estat editat per Akal, Tres Cantos - Madrid -, 2008, havent-se reimprès l'any 2011).

CASTIÑEIRAS GONZÁLEZ, Manuel Antonio, Introducción al Método Iconográfico, Tórculo, Santiago de Compostel.la, 1997 (2a. ed.; també està editat per Ariel, Barcelona, 1998).

DESROCHES-NOBLECOURT, Christiane, La Herencia del Antiguo Egipto, Edhasa, Barcelona, 2006.

DUCHET-SUCHAUX, Gaston – PASTOUREAU, Michel, Guía iconográfica de la Biblia y los santos, Alianza, Madrid, 1996 (traduït de l’ed. francesa del 1994; ed. original: 1990).

ESTEBAN LLORENTE, Juan Francisco, Tratado de iconografía, Colección Fundamentos, núm. 110, Istmo, Madrid, 1990

FRANCO LLOPIS, Borja - MOLINA MARTÍN, Álvaro - VIGARA ZAFRA, José A., Imágenes de la tradición clásica y cristiana. Una aproximación desde la iconografía, Editorial Universitaria Ramón Areces, Madrid, 2018.

GOMBRICH, Ernest Hans, Arte e ilusión: estudio sobre la psicología de la representación pictórica, Phaidon Press Limited, London, 2008 (ed. original anglesa: 1960).

GOMBRICH, Ernest Hans, Los Usos de las imágenes: estudios sobre la función social del arte y la comunicación visual, Debate, Barcelona,2003 (ed. original anglesa: 1999).

GRABAR, André, Las vías de la creación en la iconografía cristiana, Alianza Forma, núm. 49, Alianza, Madrid, 1985 (ed. original francesa: 1979).

GRANDA, Cristina, Guía para identificar los santos de la iconografía cristiana (1ª edición), Cátedra, Madrid, 2018.

GRIMAL, Pierre, Diccionario de mitología griega y romana, Paidós, Barcelona, 1981 (ed. revisada per l’autor; ed. original francesa: 1951; publicat en català l’any 2008).

Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, 8 volums dobles, Artemis Verlag, Zuric-Munic, 1981-1997.

PANOFSKY,Erwin, Estudios sobre iconología, Alianza Universidad, núm. 12, Madrid, 1972 (ed.original anglesa: 1962).

PLAZA ESCUDERO, Lorenzo de la (coord.), Guía para identificar los personajes de la mitología clásica, Cátedra, Madrid, 2016.

PLAZA ESCUDERO, Lorenzo de la (coord.), Guía para identificar los santos de la iconografía cristiana, Cátedra, Madrid, 2018.

PLAZA ESCUDERO, Lorenzo de la (coord.), Guía para identificar las escenas y personajes de la Biblia, Cátedra, Madrid, 2021.

RÉAU, Louis, Iconographie de l'art chrétien, sis volums, Presses Universitaires de France, París, 1955-1959 (traduït al castellà per Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona, 1996-2000; dels volums 2-6 se n’ha publicat, en castellà, una 2a. ed.: 1999-2002).

VVAA, The Oxford guide to classical mythology in the arts : 1300-1990s, Oxford University Press, Nova York, Oxford, 1993.

VVAA, Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae, Artemis, Zürich, 1981-1999.

VORÁGINE, Santiago de la, La leyenda dorada, Alianza Forma, núms. 29 i 30, Alianza, Madrid, 1982.

WILKINSON, Richard Henry, Cómo leer el arte egipcio: guía de jeroglíficos del antiguo Egipto, Crítica, Barcelona, 2004. 

<divclass="csl-bib-body">

WILKINSON, Richard Henry, Todos los dioses del Antiguo Egipto, Oberon, Madrid, 2003.

 

Other resources:

Theoi Project.
Theoi Greek mythology --> https://www.theoi.com

Universidad Complutense.
Base de Datos Digital de Iconografía Medieval --> https://www.ucm.es/bdiconografiamedieval/iconografia-online

Warburg Institute.
W.I. Iconographic Database --> https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/main_page.php.


Software

---


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed