<em>Studies in Iconography</em> is an annual journal hosted by the Index of Medieval Art and published in partnership with Medieval Institute Publications. It presents innovative work on the meaning of images in the medieval world broadly construed, between the fourth century and the year 1600.

Review of Jessica Barker's "Stone Fidelity: Marriage and Emotion in Medieval Tomb Sculpture" by Joan A. Holladay.

THE ILLUMINATED FRONTISPIECE OF Margaret of York’s Le Dyalogue de la duchesse de Bourgogne à Jésus Christ (The Dialogue of the Duchess of Burgundy with Jesus Christ) has often been used as a visual example of late medieval lay devotion. As such, the miniature has frequently been compared with such scenes as the noli me tangere, Christ’s apocryphal appearance to the Virgin Mary after his resurrection, and—although less often—to the Annunciation. This article examines the iconography of the bed’s curtain-sack, which hangs between Christ and Margaret, to confirm that the frontispiece draws on Annunciation imagery specifically. It then offers a new reading of the illumination as iconographically flexible, combining the three aforementioned iconographies into a single image. By viewing the frontispiece through the interpretive lens of the biblical Song of Songs, it demonstrates how the miniature was intended to lead Margaret through the cycle of spiritual purification and virginity, pregnancy, and generation.

AMONG THE MOST ENIGMATIC compositions in Lucas Cranach’s oeuvre are his biblical decapitations of the 1530s. In 1531, he executed a pair of panels depicting the story of Judith and Holofernes; between 1531 and 1539, he and his workshop produced four paintings of the Feast of Herod of nearly identical composition and size. Through the decade, Cranach and his shop painted half- to full-length images of the princess Salome alone that are almost indistinguishable from his contemporaneous paintings of Judith. I propose that Cranach’s narrative paintings should be understood as allegories: they were veiled references to the tyranny of the imperial court and were intended for the Lutheran prince-electors in the years following the Diet of Augsburg. These half-length images of Judith and Salome proliferated because both subjects connoted the downfall of tyrannical forces. Cranach thus skillfully adapted rarefied political iconography to imagery that served a broad Reformation audience.

Review of Federico Botana's "Learning through Images in the Italian Renaissance: Illustrated Manuscripts and Education in Quattrocento Florence" by Rheagan Eric Martin.

"Masters of Melancholy: A Review Essay" by Mitchell Merback

Review of Shirin Fozi's "Romanesque Tomb Effigies: Death and Redemption in Medieval Europe" by Thomas Dale.

Review of Luís U. Afonso and Tiago Moita's "Sephardic Book Art of the 15th Century" by Marc Michael Epstein.

THE CRYPT CAPITALS OF Saint-Bénigne in Dijon (1001–1018) are often considered among the most inventive of early Romanesque figurative capitals. This article demonstrates that the Benedictine reform undertaken at the monastery by Abbot William of Volpiano in the last decade of the tenth century provides a context not only for a new interpretation of the iconography of two capitals facing St. Bénigne’s tomb, but also for the genesis of the contorted monstrous imagery characteristic of the Romanesque style. The iconography of the capitals resembles John of Fécamp’s description of hell in the Confessio theologica. The stylistic complexity of the carved forms sustains the emotional engagement that John deemed necessary for repentance and recalls Odo of Cluny’s prescription in the Occupatio of using devices to maintain engagement. Similarities with Abbot William’s reform in Dijon and the related texts of these Benedictine reformers suggest that the capitals were designed to kindle fear as the first step of repentance in a monastic program of spiritual perfection.

Review of Elizabeth S. Bolman, ed. The Red Monastery Church: Beauty and Asceticism in Upper Egypt, by Jesper Blid