Sandro Botticelli, Lamentation Over The Dead Christ,
tempera on panel, 1490-92, Italian
Step 1: What are we looking at (literally)?
(This does NOT mean what is happening, but what is
there.)
What is the medium? Is there deep space? Shallow space?
Architecture? Are there figures?
What is in the picture (not who, not why)?
Step 2: Give more detail: How many? What color?
Describe the shapes. What is next to what?
How close is something to something else? To the edge
of the frame? Are there interactions between the elements
within the frame? Is there unity?
Step 3: Begin to interpret the image INTERNALLY.
How do the things we are looking at relate to each other
inside the frame. Do we see gestures?
If so, who is gesturing and to whom?
Are elements of the image interacting with each other?
Is there a mood? Tone?
Step 4: Further Interpretation: What is the image saying or
doing for the viewer? Are there symbols? Are there any
(art) historical, political, cultural, social, mythological or
religious, allegorical, feminist, psychoanalytic, marxist,
etc., etc., MEANINGS or MESSAGES?
(This could be in the details or the image as a whole.)