Mapping Iconologies: Concepts and Contexts

Iconology, the research perspective that made a significant mark on art history in the second half of the 20th century and simultaneously influenced other branches of the humanities, is first and foremost associated with Aby Warburg and Erwin Panofsky. Notwithstanding the accepted dominant definition of the term referred to here, there have also been other conceptions subsumed under that very same designation; such meaning-broadening formulations were advanced by, among others, Godefridus Johannes Hoogewerff and Hans Sedlmayr. On the other hand the diffusion of the method in countries from the Western parts of the world to those from behind the Iron Curtain differs in many fields. The introduction deals with the temporal and geographical range of the method, its main protagonists and sketches the general overview as a ground for chapters following it.