# Attributes, and How Identification Works Art History I · Iconography · https://tryals.app/learn/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works ## The Logic of the Attribute An **attribute** is an object shown with a figure that identifies them. It refers to a familiar story, a martyrdom, or a function. Early painted figures usually lacked individual portrait likeness. An **Attribute** turned an anonymous woman into **Catherine** of **Alexandria**. It served as a **portable, language-independent identifier** across Europe. | Figure | Attribute | Meaning | |---|---|---| | Peter | Keys | Keys to heaven | | Paul | Sword | His execution | | Catherine of Alexandria | Wheel, palm | Torture wheel; martyrdom | | Jerome | Lion | The beast he tended | A palm signals **martyrdom in general**. For precise identification, artists combine several attributes. ### Personifications and Limits Abstractions also received visual bodies. **Cesare Ripa** published his *Iconologia* in **1593** as a dictionary of personifications. Artists **actually used it**, proving these motifs were shared conventions rather than personal inventions. * **Strongest**: conventional religious scenes with stable, documented repertoires. * **Weakest**: private programmes, unique commissions, or invented symbolism. Scholars debate **disguised symbolism** in early **Netherlandish** art, where ordinary domestic objects carry theological meaning. > **Common pitfall:** reading every object in a picture as a symbol. Always consider the painting's context and intended function. ## Practice questions 9 of this lesson's 13 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app. ### 1. Arrange these developments in the codification of images in order. **Answer:** 1. Attributes develop as workshop convention across medieval Europe 2. The Golden Legend collects the saints' lives that supply them 3. Ripa publishes the Iconologia 4. The Iconologia appears in an illustrated edition 5. Panofsky proposes disguised symbolism in Netherlandish painting **Why:** The order matters because it shows the handbooks **recording** practice rather than creating it. Attributes were working conventions long before anyone wrote a dictionary of them, which is why Ripa is evidence about what painters were already doing. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/arrange-these-developments-in-the-codification-of-images-in-order ### 2. A figure carries only a palm. Roughly how many individual saints does that identify? **Answer:** 0 (within ±1.5) **Why:** **None.** The palm signifies martyrdom in general, so it narrows the field to a very large group and identifies no one. That is exactly why attributes are used in combination, the palm plus the wheel gives Catherine, and neither alone would. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/a-figure-carries-only-a-palm-roughly-how-many-individual-saints-does ### 3. Why does Ripa's Iconologia count as evidence about intended meaning rather than modern reconstruction? Select every true statement. A. It is an alphabetical dictionary of personified abstractions B. Painters and patrons used it, so it evidences intended meaning C. It was a modern reconstruction of lost conventions D. It specifies how each concept should be depicted and why **Answer:** A. It is an alphabetical dictionary of personified abstractions; B. Painters and patrons used it, so it evidences intended meaning; D. It specifies how each concept should be depicted and why **Why:** The fourth is the error worth avoiding. Ripa is a **period** source that painters and patrons consulted, which makes it direct evidence about intended meaning, a very different thing from a modern reconstruction, and much harder to argue with. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/why-does-ripas-iconologia-count-as-evidence-about-intended-meaning ### 4. Complete the account of attributes. **Answer:** An object shown with a figure in order to identify them is an **attribute**. Most refer to the manner of a saint's **death** or an episode of their life. Personified abstractions were codified by **Ripa** in his Iconologia. Panofsky's claim that everyday objects in Netherlandish painting carry doctrinal meaning is called **disguised** symbolism. **Why:** The last blank names the method's most contested extension. Some Netherlandish objects clearly do carry doctrinal meaning and some are furniture, and the criterion for telling them apart has never been settled, which is why the debate is still live. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/complete-the-account-of-attributes ### 5. In what year was Ripa's Iconologia first published? **Answer:** 1593 (within ±3) **Why:** **1593**, unillustrated, with the illustrated edition following about a decade later. The illustrations mattered enormously for its use: a painter needs to see how Fortune stands, not only to read that she does. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/in-what-year-was-ripas-iconologia-first-published ### 6. An attribute functions as an identifier rather than a portrait likeness. What follows from this distinction when examining an unfamiliar saint across different regional workshops? A. Identification depends on codified props rather than facial traits B. Artists could invent novel emblems without confusing contemporary viewers C. Regional variations in physiognomy override the meaning of standard objects D. The presence of any domestic item confirms an underlying martyrdom narrative **Answer:** A. Identification depends on codified props rather than facial traits **Why:** Conflating narrative props with portraiture overlooks how workshop conventions operated. Because early figures lacked distinctive facial traits, viewers relied entirely on established emblems; novel or purely idiosyncratic additions would break the shared visual code. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/an-attribute-functions-as-an-identifier-rather-than-a-portrait ### 7. Arrange the steps of identifying a figure by attribute, in order. **Answer:** 1. Describe the objects shown with the figure 2. Ask which are attributes and which are furniture or setting 3. Match the attributes against the repertoire 4. Check that the combination identifies one figure rather than a class 5. Check the identification against the picture's context and purpose **Why:** The fourth step is where beginners stop too early. A single attribute frequently identifies a class — martyrs, virgins, bishops — and the combination is what narrows it to a person, which is why the repertoire is used as a set of intersecting constraints rather than a lookup table. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/arrange-the-steps-of-identifying-a-figure-by-attribute-in-order ### 8. Sort each attribute by what it refers to. **Answer:** - The manner of death or torture: Lawrence's gridiron, Catherine's wheel, Sebastian's arrows - An episode from the life: Jerome's lion - A function or office: Peter's keys, A bishop's crozier **Why:** The proportions are informative. Most attributes come from a martyrdom, which tells you what the cult of saints was organised around, and the ones that identify an office rather than a person, like the crozier, function differently: they narrow the category without naming the individual. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/sort-each-attribute-by-what-it-refers-to ### 9. A dog in a fifteenth-century painting always signifies fidelity. **Answer:** False **Why:** **False**, and the caution generalises. Sometimes the dog carries the meaning and sometimes it is a dog, and the defence against over-reading is Gombrich's: establish what kind of picture this is and what it was for, and require evidence proportional to the strangeness of the reading. Page: https://tryals.app/practice/art-history-i/attributes-and-how-identification-works/a-dog-in-a-fifteenth-century-painting-always-signifies-fidelity