Iconclass

thumb|The Threatened Swan, c. 1650, [[Jan Asselijn, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Classed as: 45A10 = 'symbols, allegories of war; 'Guerra' (Ripa)' 25F36(SWAN) = 'water-birds' 34B11 = 'dog' 41C642 = 'eggs, egg-dishes']] Iconclass is a specialized library classification designed for classifying the subjects and content of images in art (their iconography). It was originally conceived by the Dutch art historian Henri van de Waal in the 1970s, and was further developed by a group of scholars after his death.

It is one of the largest classification systems for cultural content and probably the largest for visual arts content. Initially designed for historical imagery, it is now also used to create subject access to texts and to classify a wide range of images, including modern photography. At the moment it contains over 28,000 unique concepts (classification types) and has an entry vocabulary of 14,000 keywords. Like the Dewey Decimal Classification and Universal Decimal Classification systems, it has 10 main "divisions" or points of entry: 0 Abstract, Non-representational Art 1 Religion and Magic 2 Nature 3 Human being, Man in general 4 Society, Civilization, Culture 5 Abstract Ideas and Concepts 6 History 7 Bible 8 Literature 9 Classical Mythology and Ancient History