The aim of this paper is to discuss how the term 'iconography' was used as a concept of portrait likeness in art historiography before Erwin Panofsky's method for interpreting symbols and their hidden meaning rose to popularity in the 1950s. My main point of departure will be in the foundation and scholarly outcomes of The Swedish Portrait Archive between 1916 and 1945. The examples will be taken from so-called iconographic studies in the 1930s of 16th century portraits of the Swedish Vasa Dynasty."