ICON, generally any image or portrait-figure. The word is specially applied to the representations in the Eastern Church of sacred personages, which are either flat paintings or in very low relief, sculptured figures being forbidden. (See BYZANTINE ART.) The term "iconography" once confined to the study of engrav ings is now applied to the history of portrait images in Christian art, though it is also used with a qualifying adjective of Greek, Roman and other art.