Semiotic Icon

        A semiotic icon functions as a signifier for some idea or idea system because it physically resembles the signified, at least if interpreted by means of a rule-governed interpretive code that guarantees all rule-following readers will assign it the same value. 

The Pietá (Christ and Madonna as a generic scene, in which the child signifies ideas associated with vulnerable divinity and the mother signifies ideas associated with grief and nurturing adoration)

Michaelangelo (Sistine Chapel)                                    Annibale Carracci (National Museum of Capodimonte)            Andrea del Sarto (Gallaria Palatina)

The American Flag (a piece of cloth composed of a coded pattern of stars and stripes which signify [in number] the original colonies and current states and [in color] loyalty and blood). 

Ft. McHenry Flag, 1812 (National Museum of American History)            Standard 2013 Flag Image