The study of iconography—how symbols and allegories function in art—offers a way to understand masterpieces that have puzzled scholars for generations. In the fourth program of a series, art historian Noah Charney explores the use of saints and their associative meaning in paintings created during the medieval age.

Saints are present in so many works of art. But how did medieval viewers know who was who in a painting, when most couldn’t read? By recognizing attributes often linked to a saint’s martyrdom—like Saint Lucy’s eyes on a platter or Saint Peter’s upside-down cross—they knew which saint they were seeing and why.  

Learn how to identify key saints and read religious paintings like a detective reads clues. Using Crivelli’s Demidoff Altarpiece as a guide, Charney explores the meanings behind the faces and attributes of these artistic tropes.

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