Modelling Art Interpretation and Meaning. A Data Model for Describing Iconology and Iconography

TL;DR

This paper proposes a data model for representing art interpretation, specifically iconology and iconography, aiming to enhance quantitative art history through ontology extension and validation.

Contribution

It introduces new terms and an extended ontology for better description of iconological aspects in digital art history research.

Findings

Validated new ontology terms through a common evaluation method

Analyzed eleven case studies from literature

Discussed potential applications in digital art history

Abstract

Iconology is a branch of art history that investigates the meaning of artworks in relation to their social and cultural background. Nowadays, several interdisciplinary research fields leverage theoretical frameworks close to iconology to pursue quantitative Art History with data science methods and Semantic Web technologies. However, while Iconographic studies have been recently addressed in ontologies, a complete description of aspects relevant to iconological studies is still missing. In this article, we present a preliminary study on eleven case studies selected from the literature and we envision new terms for extending existing ontologies. We validate new terms according to a common evaluation method and we discuss our results in the light of the opportunities that such an extended ontology would arise in the community of Digital Art History.