Some reading to help better understand iconography in a variety of its aspects;
The Tradition of Iconography [goholycross.org] by Bishop Kallistos Ware, an Orthodox hierarch whose writing is well-respected and widely read by Orthodox and Catholics alike.
Iconography In the Eastern Church [st-ann-melkite.org] by Bishop Nicholas Samra, Auxiliary-Emeritus of the Eparchy of Newton of the Melkites.
Byzantine Iconography [geocities.com], not a definitive work, but a reasonably well-written research paper by an anonymous student
Rules for the Painter of Icons [geocities.com], this is a simplified/condensed piece from a commercial site (a Bulgarian iconography gallery), but what it says is valid
Iconographer Marek Czarnecki [americancatholic.org], an article about a young Polish-American iconographer
Understanding How Icons Are Written - An Interview [americancatholic.org], a follow-up Q&A with the subject of the above article
Iconography [sspeterpaul.org], from Saints Peter & Paul (OCA) Church (Meriden, CT); it gives a brief intro to and then goes on to display a number of icons and describe their features. It also has a suggested reading list.
Icons & Iconography [aggreen.net], from the website of Al Green, an Orthodox layman, who has a variety of interesting webpages; this offers a significant number of great links to sources (both commercial and religious) for icons, as well as to articles, etc., on-line.
Orthodox Art & Architecture [goarch.org], on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America site, has a concise, but thorough, history of iconography
Iconography [stpaulsirvine.org] Saint Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church, has an excellent series of articles on Greek iconography at its site.
Images [stmichaelsydney.org.au] St. Michael's Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Melkite Eparchy for Australia and New Zealand, has some brief articles and beautiful examples of the Arabic style of iconography at its website.
Icons of the Theotokos [udayton.edu], from the Marian Center at the University of Dayton
Sacred Images: Statues and Other Icons [kensmen.com] describes many of the stylisms used in iconography
Symbolology Table [kensmen.com] Iconographic Treasures of the Ecumenical Patriarchate [patriarchate.org], illustrates many of the icons in the Patriarchal Church at Constantinople, as well as describing them in detail
About Icons [mountosb.org], although by a Western iconographer, is a well-written piece and contains excellent information
Uncanonical Icons [home.earthlink.net], is unique in being an online guide to Byzantine iconography that has a section illustrating and explaining those that fail to follow the unwritten canons that have been passed down through time
Icons [udayton.edu] is an excellent series of articles from the Mariology Center at the University of Dayton that shows icons illustrative of many features discussed in the pieces; my only quibble with these otherwise excellent writings is the one in which it alludes to there being only 3 schools of iconography, Byzantine, Macedonian, and Russian
Icons Explained [iconsexplained.com] is a site which someone rightly described recently as offering a monumental amount of information relative to icons and iconography (principally focused on the Byzantine tradition)
A few things to know:
One site listed above speaks of a "painter" of icons, but you’ll also read elsewhere that the act is more properly spoken of as "writing" an icon and the iconographer, thus, is more properly termed a "writer" of icons. In recent times, there have been persuasive arguments raised that the distinction is an artificial one, based on a failure to acknowledge that the Greek words for painting and writing are not really exclusive of one another.
The rules referenced refer to certain aspects of spirituality and demeanor on the iconographer's part.
Other rules exist in regard to the subject matter and content of icons, such as that organs of the human body are not to be depicted - thus, one will not properly see an icon of the Sacred Heart, a Western or Latin devotion.
The colors to be used in some depictions are prescribed, as are some backgrounds; you will sometimes see these stated as absolutes, but a number of them are tradition-specific. That is, what is requisite or verboten in one cultural tradition will be different than another.
An iconographer, historically, didn’t doesn't sign his or her work, as to do so was felt akin is to taking credit for God's inspiration, as transmitted through the hands of His servant, the iconographer, and was deemed to be an expression of personal pride that was unworthy of the iconographer. More recently, it is not uncommon to see a notation on the back that an icon is “by the hand of”.
Some other tidbits:
Saint Luke is ordinarily considered to have been the first iconographer and the Theotokos to have been his subject
You may encounter references to "icons not written by human hands" or acheiropoietai; this refers to those Iconic representations perceived to be of Divine origination. Most commonly, these are the Mandylion of Edessa, Veronica’s Napkin, and the Shroud of Turin. The Tilma or cloak of Guadalupe is categorized similarly by some.
As far as seeing some examples of modern-day iconography by devout iconographers:
Dave Mastroberte [angelfire.com] (who posts here as Chtec) has a great site with some beautiful examples of icons in the Slav tradition; Dave is a young second-generation Orthodox iconographer
Ray Mastroberte [comeandseeicons.com], Dave’s Dad, (who posts here as 70x7), is a talented and devout iconographer whose work is also in the Slav tradition.
Tregubov Studios [tregubovstudios.com], displays the iconography of its founder, Father Alexander Tregubov.
Holy Transfiguration Monastery [thehtm.org] in Brookline, MA has had a sometimes controversial history, but its monks write devout and beautiful icons.
Brother Claude [mtangel.edu] from Mt. Angel Abbey in Oregon writes beautiful icons, albeit some are a bit more Western in style
There are a multitude of schools of iconography, with different manners and styles of expression. These include Byzantine Greek, as well as Byzantine Slav, Russian, Arabic, Coptic, and what has been referred to as the Western style. It may be helpful to become familiar with each of the styles and schools through reading and study to best know which you prefer - or, just look and see which reach out to you. Below are examples of most:
The Orthodox Church & Its Icons [home.eg-gym.dk] is a fantastic collection of links indicating various styles of iconography.
Greek Iconography [goarch.org] is relatively familiar to the Western eye and is often less stylized than that in some of the other traditions.
Bulgarian Iconography [bulgaria.com] My personal description would be that Bulgarian icons use gilt more generously, are unusually busy in detail, and are somewhat less stylized - more humanized - than others .
Embroidered Iconography [tregubovstudios.com] is primarily a traditional Russian and Ukrainian usage. Presbytera Galina Tregubov writes beautiful pieces in this medium.
Slovakian and Czech Icons [unipo.sk] tend to a folk art style. (There is a site with particularly wonderful examples of both Czech and Russian iconography, broken out into icons of the Theotokos, Saints, etc, but I can't find the link.)
Serb Iconography [sv-luka.org] has, to my untrained eye, some particularity in the look of the eyes and noses that I find lets me identify it from other styles.
Greek, Russian, and Arabic [melkite.org] styles of iconography, with specific differences among them noted, are illustrated side-by-side in a brief piece on the site of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton.
Carved Wooden Icons [comch.ru] Russian iconography includes a recently revived tradition of these. Such depictions were outlawed as uncanonical for some time, but have recently come back to favor and have also been recognized as a medium to allow blind faithful to visualize icons.
Belarusian Iconography [belarusguide.com] was somewhat influenced by Western European art techniques of the Renaissance period and, consequently, includes more attention to perspective, as well as to light and shadow.
Maronite Iconography [qadish.org] was pretty much lost in the extreme latinization of that Church by French missioners and you're more likely to find statues than icons in many Maronite churches. Efforts to revive a style have produced what always appears, to me, to be a somewhat bland facial appearance. There has also been some departure from traditional subject matter.
Byzantine Iconographic Style [home.earthlink.net] is probably the one most familiar to the Western eye. There are some excellent examples on this page.
Russian Iconography [auburn.edu] often uses brighter colors than other styles, although antique icons themselves are often considerably darkened by centuries of candle smoke and incense.
Auburn University has an excellent selection of examples of the many Russian Schools of Iconography at
Russian Icons Index [auburn.edu] Coptic Iconography [geocities.com] has a "new" and "old" style. To my own eye, the new style is not so "gentle" (for lack of a better word) as the old.. This commercial gallery offers a good visual comparison of the two.
Ethiopian Icons [nmafa.si.edu] are frequently painted on diptychs or triptychs, rather than single panels. They tend to use perhaps the most brilliant color palette found among any of the styles and many have a folk art style to them.
Mosaic Iconography [stjohnsarmenianchurch.org] is very common among the Armenians.
Romanian Iconography [roua.org] includes a tradition of icons on glass
Macedonian Iconography [mpc.org.mk] often seems to reflect a somewhat surprised or slightly amused countenance on the subjects, making them very human. The posing of the Infant and the Theotokos is also quite refreshingly unique in some of the icons from this culture.
Macedonia also has traditions of both
Frescoed Iconography [soros.org.mk] (use the horizontal scroll bar at bottom of page) and
Terra-Cotta Iconography [macedoniadirect.com]Georgian Iconography [geoart.iatp.org.ge] tends to a softness, with older examples being best described as primitive art. This Church also has a strong history of enameled icons. (patience - the page to which I linked is very slow to load)
Albanian Iconography [albanianorthodox.com] tends to depict the Theotokos with particularly tender eyes to my way of thinking (the 5th icon in the 5th row of icons is among my personal favorites)
Slav styles are well-illustrated on the pages of Dave and Ray Mastroberte, to which I provided links above.
Interestingly, although the Mandylion, the first Icon-Not-By-Human-Hands, is attributed to Assyria, there is no surviving strong history of iconography among the Assyrians and Chaldeans, although, of late, there has been an effort to search out ancient sites and research further on the matter.
Icons of Saint John of Damascus [balamand.edu.lb], at the University of Balamand site, is particularly interesting in having collected icons of the Saint that were prepared in several different styles, offering a fascinating comparison.
Medieval Wall Painting in the English Parish Church [paintedchurch.org] is a fascinating site, first brought to my attention by a friend on an Orthodox forum who considered the paintings to be an extraordinary example of early Western iconography. I agree. (Go to the Main Contents Page and then to the Panoramic Quick View.)
Missing from this listing are links to iconography of the Old Believers, which I can’t locate at the moment and examples of khorugvi (cloth icons).
