Interpreting Portraiture Collections

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• Interpretation - for whom?
• Interpretation - how?
• Interpretation - of what?
• Further reading and resources
• Beningborough Hall Case Study
• Acknowledgements
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Reading Portraits - some further aspects

These aspects should also be considered:

• Likeness - Explore whether portraits tell the 'truth' about sitters and introduce concept of flattery. Use other portraits of a sitter, produced in different circumstances, for comparison, or contemporary written descriptions of the sitter (from as unbiased sources as possible - diaries, letters etc or foreign diplomats reporting home). For comparing body-shape use sitter's clothing (if any survives), armour etc.

Comparing Henry VIII's image as created by Holbein and Henry's armour of about the same date shows clearly that Holbein, while keeping Henry's height as it was in life, vastly exaggerated the length of his legs to make him seem more imposing.

• Symbolism - Explore meanings especially of commonly used symbols in portraits: Dog=loyalty; Column/Pillar=constancy, strength; Rose=love, beauty, youth; Book=learning, sometimes authorship; Pen and Ink=writer; Intense light on the forehead=active brain of writer (just as a light-bulb is used in a comic to denote a brainwave); Sword=soldier, justice; Palm branch=peace; Dove=peace, gentleness; Ermine=purity, virginity. (Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art is a useful tool.)

• Self-portraiture - how do these differ from portraits of other sitters? Consider possibly conflicting roles of self-portrait as experimentation, aid to self-discovery, and advertisement of artistic capabilities.

In this early self-portrait Joshua Reynolds explores effects of light and shade in portraiture, while suggesting his suitability to future patrons through the obvious importance he places on detailed observation.

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