The Iconography of Visual Culture and Pedagogical Approaches to Seeing

The Iconography of Visual Culture examines the imagery of woodcuts and engravings in the early modern period revealing that there was a distinctive iconographical scheme that developed in English visual culture in response to Post-Reformation Protestantism. The need to make a distinction between the "true" religion of Protestantism and the "false" religion of England''s past heritage was essential in establishing a new faith which would eventually impact upon all levels of society. Visual expressions of piety, salvation, sin, martyrdom and anti-Catholicism supported and enhanced the textual and verbal polemical messages of Calvinism. The study adopts a multi-disciplinary approach drawing upon the disciplines of history, art history and education, including a discussion of pedagogical approaches to using the imagery in secondary school history classrooms.