Noun
The discussion or description of portraiture or of representative images. Cf. Iconography.
Source: Webster's dictionaryAccording to his view, iconology was not the actual investigation of the work of art but rather the result of this investigation. Source: Internet
According to his view, iconology tries to reveal the underlying principles that form the basic attitude of a nation, a period, a class, a religious or philosophical perspective, which is modulated by one personality and condensed into one work. Source: Internet
"Sachliche" iconology refers to the "general meaning of an individual painting or of an artistic complex (church, palace, monument) as seen and explained with reference to the ideas which take shape in them." Source: Internet
Iconology in contrast to iconography Erwin Panofsky defines iconography as "a description and classification of images", while iconology is "an iconography turned interpretive". Source: Internet
Though Panofsky strongly differentiated between iconology and iconography, the distinction is not very widely followed, "and they have never been given definitions accepted by all iconographers and iconologists". Source: Internet
Interpreting these symbolical values, which can be unknown to, or different from, the artist's intention, is the object of iconology. Source: Internet