Workshop: Iconology and Iconography

In an influential essay on the nature of the humanities written in 1940, Erwin Panofsky pithily described art history as the discipline whose "primary material has come down to us in the form of works of art." This definition is deceptively straightforward: what does it mean to approach artifacts as "primary materials" for the investigation of the past? And, conversely, what particular narratives emerge from the scrutiny of artworks? Designed as a "looking laboratory" and organized as a series of in-depth case studies, this laboratory will introduce students to the dual nature of artifacts as objects and agents of history. In this spirit, it will provide them with the foundations of knowledge and the critical and analytical tools to describe and interpret artifacts; it will explore how the material, aesthetic and functional properties of artifacts both encode and contribute to shape the cultural, social and political contexts within which they are produced, viewed and used; and it will introduce the specific opportunities and challenges that arise from investigating the past through (wordless) images and objects. Finally, the laboratory will introduce some recent methodological debates and critical issues: the complex relationship between primary and secondary contexts of production, use and display; the potential and limits of a "global approach" to premodern objects; and gendered "ways of seeing".

1)Knowledge and Understanding:
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Interact and engage critically with a wide range of artworks, artistic media and techniques.
- Situate them against their specific contexts of production, patronage and viewing.
- Approach artifacts beyond their aesthetic appeal, and examine them in relation to their cultural, social and political milieu.

2)Applying knowledge and understanding
- Speak and write articulately about a variety of artworks, as well as about a range of theoretical issues underpinning the study of the visual arts.
- Articulate the significance of the visual arts and of artistic knowledge for our understanding of past and present societies and cultures, in a global perspective.
- Apply such knowledge and skills to different areas of historical research.