Iconography is perhaps one of the most powerful branches of art ever created, and one of the most enduring. For close to 2,000 years, they have educated and enlightened viewers with divine messages.

Pictorially, icons represent the unseen. They are not meant to be understood as a reproduction of reality, rather as allegories manifested through a symbolic language. As such, they possess the ability to transcend time or any social or cultural boundary, communicating with a truly universal audience.  

Historians maintain that this figurative art was originally developed in the first centuries of Christianity as part of the Byzantine and Orthodox Christian tradition. However, as this period was dominated by a pagan Roman government, the artistic activities of Christians were necessarily clandestine—images from this time have been found in sarcophagi and the catacombs. But once Emperor Constantine instituted the Edict of Religious Tolerance in 313 A.D. (also known as the Peace of the Church), Christians could come out of hiding without fear of persecution. Constantine was the first emperor to patronize Christian art on a large scale. The arts of Christendom benefited greatly by these favorable conditions, and the impetus given by the rise of Constantinople. By the end of the fourth century A.D., figurative art in the Christian religion became a large component of the Christian experience. 

At the time, the icon were considered the most direct and eloquent medium of communicating religious ideas and spiritual emotions, essentially functioning as a missionary tool. But over the next several centuries, icons grew to be used in public rituals and decoration of the church and for private devotions and prayers. 

Despite its growing popularity, icon painting posed a theological controversy that split the whole empire into two sides. Some argued that the spiritual and divine should not be portrayed. They believed that every icon depicting Christ or the Godly was sacrilege and a blatant rejection of all that was holy. This side, known as the “iconoclasts” stood in stark opposition to the “iconodules” who fought fervently to defend the use of icons. The iconodules maintained that since Christ made flesh that his divinity and humanity could be portrayed in human form. On a more practical level, they also identified the immeasurable educational benefit for the mostly illiterate population. 

The controversy over icon painting continued to escalate until the eighth century when Leo III, the Byzantine emperor, instituted a strict policy of iconoclasm, banning all production and use of icons in churches. This period of iconoclasm lasted for well over a century until the church decided that condemning the use of icons was condemning the spiritual, thus branding the iconoclasts as heretics. From this point on, icons became an identifying feature of the Orthodox church. Icons not only re-emerged, but thrived, expanding well beyond the church to become an ubiquitous part of the Byzantine world.

As more artists began to practice iconography, they found the biggest obstacle was turning their story or message into a single striking image. Each icon was intended to captivate and educate, and win over the heart and mind of the viewer. To create the strongest image, artists rarely used landscape or architecture in the background, and if they did, it was only in an abstract capacity. This allowed the primary image to stand out and evoke a stronger reaction. 

Color also played an important role in iconography. Gold was used to reflect the glow of heaven. Red was used to reflect the power of divinity. Blue was primarily used as the color of human life. And white was the essence of God—reserved for images depicting the resurrection and transfiguration of Christ. 

Over time, icon artists gradually gave themselves more artistic license. They reinterpreted and readapted the conventional poses of figures. They incorporated more visual stylings of their own. There was no longer a systematic way of creating art. What began as a rather narrow approach to art had soon become a progressive and innovative aesthetic. Artists from all genres found use in iconography, often incorporating it into their compositions to achieve the desired effect. 

Despite undergoing a dramatic transformation throughout the centuries, icons have always maintained a special purpose. They stand somewhere between art and relic, between the visually perceptible and the transcendental. They defy categorization, and their power they possess defies limitation. Unlike any other art form, icons have a vast, ineffable presence, and for centuries they have communicated the different ways and varied means we understand the world.