Interpreting Portraiture Collections

• Toolkit Homepage
• Interpretation - for whom?
• Interpretation - how?
• Interpretation - of what?
• Further reading and resources
• Beningborough Hall Case Study
• Acknowledgements
• Return to main Toolkits page

Reading Portraits - developing generic transferrable skills

Visitors who learn to unlock meaning from these different aspects of one portrait will then be able to see much more in other portraits, too.

While for some adults this interpretation can be tackled through text alone, for many people the chance to explore these ideas practically with low-tech interactives that include mirrors will bring greater understanding.

These elements are particular to portraits and supplement the other elements of painting - colour, texture, lighting, scale, crop and so on.

• Pose - looking at body language, both the overall stance and also smaller details such as hand position etc. If possible, encourage visitors to adopt the pose or poses in front of a mirror to see how it alters them and changes the message they give off.
• Expression - look at emotions conveyed, if possible with mirror, and masks as well as faces. Children may need a range of words to help them express different emotions. Ask visitors to consider how they respond differently to portraits where the sitter looks directly at the viewer and those where the sitter's gaze is elsewhere.
• Background - these need pointing out as they can get ignored by visitors concentrating too exclusively on the sitter. Choices of backgrounds can be provided using curtains or sliding flats as in a theatre, both with a full-length mirror, or using a high tech interactive.
• Clothes - people are generally good at decoding the messages given by clothing, including different types of fabric. Items of clothing, drapes, hats etc allow visitors to construct different meanings about themselves.
• Accessories/props - act as message-bearing items about jobs, interests etc. Some more symbolic items may need further interpretation - useful to introduce some common symbols such as dog=loyalty and idea that one symbol can have multiple meanings e.g. rose=beauty, love, youth. (Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art is a useful tool.)
• Composition of pairs and groups - look at who is in the centre, largest, nearest the front, directly confronting the viewer, being looked at by others in the portrait and so on.

Reference: Beningbrough Case Study

Return to 'Interpretation - of What?'