Iconographic Analysis of Thorneycroft's Martyrdom of the Great One

Introduction

Understanding iconography demands that a few prerequisites be achieved first on the part of the viewer. What is required of the viewer to understand what the artist is attempting to communicate? As Panofsky explains, one must know what gestures mean — just as one must know what it means when one passes a gentleman on the street and the gentleman lifts his hat as a sign of cordiality and respect.¹ If one has no understanding of this gesture, the meaning of the act is lost. Just so, to engage in iconographic analysis one must understand the mechanisms of meaning used by artists. Particularly, one must be able to contextualize based on one's sense of the history, trends, style, and culture of the artist and his time. To extend Panofsky's analogy, a gentleman raising his hat to another on the street makes sense if one is in the Western world in the early part of the twentieth century — but not if one is in the East, or in any era but the modern one. Thus, with iconography, one cannot apply modern philosophical or cultural perspectives to the art and expect it to make sense; rather, one must view it from the perspective of the time and place in which it was created. One must understand the artistic gestures as they would have been understood in that time.

Before analyzing The Martyrdom of the Great One, it is necessary to understand its forms, and that means looking at both pre-iconographic and iconographic methods. Once these are understood, one can see that Diana Thorneycroft uses iconographic motifs and narrative to express allegorical meanings about Canadian national identity and culture — specifically, that in Canada it is not Christ who is the Great One, but rather Wayne Gretzky, hockey hero. The weight of this meaning cannot be fully comprehended unless one understands the contextual history of iconography and how Thorneycroft ironically uses it to comment on her own modern world.

Pre-Iconographic Description

Describing a work of art in terms of line, form, color, shapes as symbols of natural environments, the relationship between objects as representative of events, and recognizing the pose or gesture of a subject as indicative of the character of the work — all of this is to engage in what Panofsky calls a pre-iconographic description.² In other words, to look at a work and understand it in terms of line, shape, shadow, form, and movement is to analyze it in pre-iconographic terms.

Iconographic Interpretation

Describing a work of art in terms of its meaning and subject matter, rather than its form, is what it means to engage in iconography. In the iconographic approach, one focuses on subject matter and meaning rather than line, movement, shape, color, or space. It does not examine the manner in which something is communicated or expressed; instead, it examines the meaning of the action itself. Once more, the lifting of a hat to express a salutation is an act that can be described in terms of its meaning. If it were a work of art and one were attempting to describe it in pre-iconographic terms, one would look at how the hat is raised, what type of hat it is, what the gentleman is wearing, what his posture indicates, and what his relationship to his surroundings reveals.

Iconography accepts that certain symbols carry specific meaning. Panofsky puts it this way: in Christian art, it is accepted that "a male figure with a knife represents St. Bartholomew, that a female figure with a peach in her hand is a personification of veracity, that a group of figures seated at a dinner table in a certain arrangement and in certain poses represents the Last Supper, and that two figures fighting each other in a certain manner represent the Combat of Vice and Virtue."³ To approach a work with this understanding — connecting symbols, motifs, themes, and concepts — is to approach it from the standpoint of iconography.

Symbols and Motifs in The Martyrdom of the Great One

Thorneycroft uses symbols that carry meaning from an iconographic point of view: the subject is chained to a tree in a crucifixion-type execution, arms raised above the head, with predators gathered all around. In depictions of Christ's crucifixion, the subject is typically surrounded by Roman soldiers; in Thorneycroft's work, Gretzky — the martyred one — is surrounded by lions. Lions are loaded with meaning: they are the kings of the jungle, and they also carry Old Testament significance, such as from the story of Daniel in the lion's den. Daniel was condemned to be fed to the lions, yet the lions fell at his feet and not a single one consumed him. Also present in Thorneycroft's image are tigers and leopards — wild cats of prey.

There are numerous other symbols and motifs in the work. The birds perched in the tree to which Gretzky is chained symbolize Canada — they are Canadian geese. The goose is traditionally a symbol of courage. They sit in the branches in a V-formation — V for victory? Or V for their natural flying pattern, here ironically and mockingly applied to suggest in a derisive way that Gretzky is not winning this fight, that he will not succeed? It is impossible to say definitively, but the image can sustain either reading. From an iconographic point of view, it must be understood that martyrdom is not really a defeat but rather a triumph — the soul of the martyr is soon to be united with God. Thus every scene of martyrdom, from the martyrdom of St. Stephen to that of St. Philip to that of St. Lucy, carries the understanding that these are good souls dying for God and that they are on their way to be united with Him for all eternity.

For what is Gretzky dying? Canada? Hockey? Canadian culture? Where does he go when he dies? Where does one go in the modern world when one's soul departs? These are questions that Thorneycroft appears to be raising through her mixture of traditional iconographic meaning and modern symbolism. The narrative shows that Gretzky has been captured and is being put to death: he is being fed to the lions and tigers and spotted leopards that are poised to tear him apart. This is all photographed against a backdrop taken from a tourism brochure — a natural setting depicting the wonders of the Canadian great outdoors. The tree to which he is chained forms a natural crucifix, its two limbs extending outward and upward. The crucifix is a degrading and torturous instrument of death. That this method is used to execute Gretzky suggests his death is meant to humiliate him. Beyond this, the wild cats are meant to tear him to pieces — he is to be eaten alive.

What has been Gretzky's crime? Perhaps his sin was simply growing old, retiring from hockey, fading away. Perhaps in the post-truth world of the modern era, his crime is that he reminds everyone of their own mortality — of the fact that sooner or later everyone must cross to the other side. Perhaps that is the reason for his martyrdom here. Perhaps Thorneycroft is suggesting that he must be destroyed by the modern world before he can remind it of its own impermanence. Before he can grow old and die of natural causes, it is better that he be eaten by lions. Then he can die a hero — a glorious figure for Canadian mythology, culture, and greatness, for hockey, for Canada itself.

The allegory presented here is dark, disturbing, and caustic — a skewering of the modern world that uses references supplied by traditional iconography to create meaning where meaning might otherwise be missed. This is why understanding how meaning is conveyed from an iconographic point of view is so important.

Conclusion

Thorneycroft uses images, motifs, and themes consistent with Old World icons to convey meaning about the modern world of Canada, its values, and its lack of religious belief. Instead of saints going to Heaven, Canada and the modern world are concerned with sports heroes, legacies of athleticism, and the natural wonders of the world. Rather than finding glory in death, they see old age and dying as an offense in itself. Thus, it is better that the Great One — Gretzky — be torn apart by lions than be allowed to remind modern audiences of the fact that all must age, grow weak, and die.

Bibliography

Argan, Giulio Carlo, and Rebecca West. "Ideology and Iconology." Critical Inquiry 2, no. 2 (1975): 297–305.

Howard, Seymour. "Iconology, Intention, Imagos, and Myths of Meaning." Source: Notes in the History of Art 15, no. 3 (1996): 1–13.

Il Sodoma. The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. c. 1525.

Panofsky, Erwin. "Iconography and Iconology: An Introduction to the Study of Renaissance Art." Mechanisms of Meaning, 220–235.

de Ribera, Jusepe. The Martyrdom of St. Philip. c. 1639.

Rubens, Peter Paul. The Martyrdom of St. Lucy.