DESCRIVEDENDO GUIDELINES
Short Version
Before we begin to describe everything we see, it is important to establish a series of conventions that will allow us to gain a better understanding by the listener. Here are four useful questions for this purpose:
Describing a work of art undoubtedly requires an effort, but also understanding the elements the description can be challenging in many aspects. We, therefore, suggest to define how much concentration will be required from the listener based on the complexity of the artwork: very complex, moderately complex, not much complex to describe.
Of course, even a very simple artwork can have a detailed description, but it makes sense to consider that the commitment grows proportionally to the number of elements on which the description will be focused, whether they are human, animal subjects, objects, architectural or naturalistic elements.
Pictorial art does not always want to faithfully reproduce the figures and forms of reality. According to the periods and art currents, there are works in which the artists wanted to reproduce with extreme realism and accuracy the subjects (almost like a photography), others in which the figures are still recognizable, but may be modified by stroke effects, light or color, up to a type of art, typical of eras closer to us, that is completely abstract, in which there is no longer any recognition of elements of reality. Before moving on to the contents of a work, it is good practice to communicate this aspect to the listener who aims to create a mental image based on our description.
We suggest doing so with a simple scale that distinguishes between realistic, partially realistic, and abstract.
Providing information about the shape and size of the work means providing a mental framework
within which it will be easier, for those who make use of the description, to subsequently insert the various contents of the painting. It is not necessary to be exact to the centimeter but to give an idea of the real proportions of what we are talking about, also recalling everyday objects, of which you have dimensional experience.
This point is the conceptual equivalent of the previous one, which concerned with the more physical aspect of the work. It focuses on providing useful information to insert what we will talk about in the listener’s mental models. Start saying if we will talk about a woman nude, a battle scene, a religious episode, a landscape, etc... This allows you to immediately communicate the essence of the painting. Titles sometimes help, but other times they can be misleading. Thus, it's a good idea to provide quick contextual information that helps to place the work in a known context shared between those who describe and those who listen to the description.
Like a photographer who frames a subject, the painter also adopts a point of view which is the basis of the visual relationship that will be established between the painting and the observer. It is important to clearly communicate this aspect to the listener, in order to correctly construct their mental image.
To this end, we could use the terminology adopted in cinema, which distinguishes between:
A second aspect that in some cases may be important to indicate is the position from which the artist intended to represent the subject: although the majority of the works usually have a frontal point of view, there are paintings with a clear perspective view from above or below, which, in case, should be reported.
In the majority of the paintings, it is possible, as in the real world, to have an idea of the distance that separates the represented figures from the observer's point of view. Many artists have used accurate perspective techniques to give their works also a sense of depth, which is otherwise impossible to render on a two-dimensional plane, such as that of the canvas.
In a description, it is suggested to always start from what is shown closest to the observer (main subject), to then proceed to what is less close (second plane) and conclude with farthest elements (background).
Experimentation has shown us how easy it is to inadvertently confuse the listener of a description by using terms like left or right: we certainly know that the right in a painting is simply to the left of the beholder and vice versa, but the frequent and repeated use of these indications tend to create easy misunderstandings and to make the construction of a mental map of the work more difficult.
To describe the spatial positioning of the elements, it is suggested therefore to adopt the 3x3 scheme which ideally divides a work into 9 portions, to which we assign the numbering of the telephone keypads: 1, 2, 3, to the top row; 4, 5, 6, to the central one; 7, 8, 9 to the bottom one. This simple scheme, combined with the different perspective planes (main subject, second plane, background), allows you to place with sufficient accuracy the different figures that will be the object of the description inside the "mental frame" of those who listen to us.
In order to effectively convey the contents of a painting, it is important to identify in advance the elements that compose it and that will be described. These could be most various: people, animals, fantastic beings, objects, human constructions or naturalistic elements such as trees, rocks, ponds, sky.
When you begin to describe one of these elements you must immediately find a unique name that will define it and remain consistent until the end of the description; if the proper name of an element is not known, you can use what appears to be a particularly distinctive trait of it (e.g., woman with the umbrella, the building with the dome).
If two or more elements are related to each other, it is better to explicitly explain this relationship immediately (e.g., an elderly woman is pouring a drink into the cups to two seated men).
Note that for those who receive the information and need to mentally construct a model of it, the description of a whole is less tiring than the list of all the elements that compose it. Thus, to describe a person's face, it is more interesting to focus on the expression, rather than the color of the eyes or the shape of the mouth. It is better to indicate the attitude or the intention that underlies a gesture, rather than anatomically describing the posture. As for the clothing, it is preferable to give a description of how it looks (e.g., a red robe, wide and long to the feet), if possible with references to the era of which it was typical (e.g., ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the nineteenth century), instead of retrieving the exact names, which are not always known (e.g., stole, tunic, toga, ruff, frock coat, etc.). Similarly, the architectural structures should be described as they appear (e.g., an imposing building, or elegant, tall, ruined, etc.) rather than dwelling on stylistic details. Finally, even the landscapes are more easily imaginable if described for their overall characteristics (e.g. arid, lush, autumnal, mountainous, lakeside, marine, etc.).
Although it is often overlooked and taken for granted in many descriptions, the information about light is vital, since it largely determines the rendering of the atmosphere that is specific to each pictorial work. It is therefore suggested to first communicate an overall idea of the light in the painting that will be described (e.g., if it is a luminous or gloomy artwork, with strong light/shadow contrasts or nuanced).
The description can then be enriched with other details:
Of course, there are artists who don't aim for a realistic light effect and, in this case, it will be necessary to try to describe the particular type of effect that is created.
Even the colors, like light, cannot be neglected in the description of a painting. However, remember that their yield depends on many factors, not least the lighting of the environment in which the work is exhibited and its state of storage. Furthermore, the colors will look different if you use an illuminated screen like that of a mobile phone, monitor or television. As for light, in the description of this attribute, it is always suggested to start from general aspects, which concern the entire painting:
The chromatic description of individual parts of the painting will instead be subsequent and always connected to the various elements that will be examined from time to time.