Writing images as an act of interpreting: notes on Erwin Panofsky’s studies on medieval subjects and the problem of language in and of art history

Abstract The linguistic and discursive dimensions of art theory and art writing are currently attracting renewed critical attention. This article analyses some of the constructive strategies employed by Erwin Panofsky in shaping his own language, challenging a reductionist understanding of his alleged ‘logocentrism’ and of the verbal and visual as categorically distinct media. I focus mainly on Panofsky’s early writings on medieval art as a case in point to characterize his conception of the writing of images as an act of interpreting. Drawing on the distinction between the language of the art historian and the role of language in the history of art, I will emphasize the pivotal role of Panofsky’s ‘Reflections on Historical Time’ as a logical premise for his definition of iconological analysis. As part of a ‘unity of meaning’, the written word related to artworks is to be regarded—Panofsky seems to suggest—as inseparable from the visual evidence.