“Spiritualia sub metaphoris corporalium”?

1
Description in the Visual Arts

Götz Pochat

A verbal description is always related to a corresponding cognitive frame. This is

also true of the visual arts, where the mode of representation is, however, further-
more subjected to conventional codes of representation to which the recipient is
expected to respond. With regard to the mimetic arts, the recipient will succumb
to illusion by way of projection, e. g. through imagination. As phenomenology
has shown, this process of conjuring up the (absent) signified object involves
viewer identification, an emotional response, and recollection. The question of
why certain (art-historical) periods feature specific motifs and why the public has
been willing to accept those motifs, is a sociological one. Yet it has to some extent
been answered by iconology, which deals with the respective cognitive cultural
frames, while the qualitative aspect of depiction reflects the transformation of an
object perceived and conjured up in the artist’s mind. Description is always the
outcome of a mental process, yet in contrast to processes triggered by verbal
description and communication, the mode of (descriptive) representation in the
visual arts appears more closely related to limbal faculties of the brain. In both
cases the final outcome oscillates between the reference and the referent as en-
compassed by the mind.

Description is, no doubt, as stated by Wolf in his introduction to the

present volume, a mental concept, a cognitive frame. The cognitive
frame, however, according to Paul de Man, may show cracks2. A
metaphor, describing an object or person, referring to a specific sig-
nificance, is embedded in a cognitive framework; but the properties of
a person or object described by way of attributions, which is, for in-
stance, the case in metonomy, may prove to be haphazard, even more
so when the signified in question is subject to a process of self-
reflexive deconstruction. Hence, within the context of description, the

1
St Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica I, qu. I art. 9, c (‘Corporeal Metaphors of
Things Spiritual’).
2
The arbitrariness of meaning is discussed by Paul de Man (1979), especially in
unmasking the uncertainties of metaphor compared to metonomy.

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266 Götz Pochat

cognitive frame is always at risk3. If we take for granted Wittgen-

stein’s characterization of description as “a basically anti-metaphysic-
cal and language-centred epistemological programme”, as opposed to
explanation, there is still no guarantee that the characteristic qualities
attributed to an object will withstand a closer examination (Wolf in
this volume: 11). All the same, as a participant in this interdiscipli-
nary debate, I assume that description itself, which is to be analysed
here, will turn out to be no more and no less than the universal ability
of man to establish connotations to omnipresent cognitive frames,
description itself being one in case.
Jacob Burckhardt once complained that the art historian, in trying
to describe a certain work of art, only manages to encircle it. He never
arrives at the heart of the matter, owing to the ineffable process of
artistic transformation. This puzzling fact of creativity and mimesis,
the making and matching, has been discussed at length by Gombrich
(1960/1968), at the end leaving him baffled by the ‘wonder of simul-
taneity’; this seems to be confirmed by recent research in neuro-
biology (cf. Singer 2002) – visual communication addresses a realm
of consciousness which is less related to discursive logic than to
deeper layers of emotion and expression situated in the pre-cortical
limbal structure of the brain (cf. ibid.: 224). Maybe the use of meta-
phors in poetry, after all, helps to bridge the gap between the visual
arts (the representation of objects) and the poet ‘thinking in pictures’
– using images as a means of literary expression.
The three basic functions of the descriptive in literature and other
media as listed by Wolf in his introduction to this volume (see 12)
are:
a) description as a means of identifying objects and phenomena and
referring to them for communicative purposes by means of char-
acteristic attributions,
b) as a means of vividly representing objects and phenomena to the
recipient,
c) as a means of approaching reality in a seemingly objective way
rather than as a means of explanation and interpretation.
These basics are also relevant with regard to aesthetics.

3
The role of Paul de Man as a representative of demonstration in aesthetics has
been summarized by Kern (1998).

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Description in the Visual Arts 267

The everyday function of description as identification through at-

tribution with special regard to absent phenomena is very much the
same in the realm of the visual arts. Panofsky speaks of the primary
or natural subject matter and the act of interpretation referring to it as
pre-iconographical description (cf. 1939/1962). The problem aris-
ing here is that even in case of a plain description, the mode of repre-
sentation is inextricably linked to convention and tradition both from
the artistic point of view and with regard to the spectator. Any kind of
communication in everyday life presupposes a constant process of
identification, a make-believe that encompasses the willingness of the
recipient to succumb to illusion: listening to a narration or perceiving
an object appearing as ‘real’ in a painting – the psychological readi-
ness to adjust the mental set in order to internalize the object de-
scribed seems to be much the same (cf. Gombrich 1960/1968: 190).
The experience referred to by Wolf in this context, is much en-
larged if we turn to phenomenology and the distinctions made by
Franz Brentano, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and others (cf. Husserl
1969; Merleau-Ponty 1945; Keller 1964: esp. 64; Gorsen 1966;
Pochat 1984, and Pochat 1996: 7-26).
The primary retention signifies the immediate recognition or
identification of a represented object. The secondary retention harks
back to former experiences, actualized and represented as a whole, a
recollection of contexts in the past (see Husserl 1969: 16). A further
distinction is made by Husserl, as the primary recollection does not
only include identification of objects and persons but also the emo-
tional response attached to them; the secondary recollection, on the
other hand, not only represents a former mental situation but also
distinguishes the present state of mind as distinct from the former
content actualized in the mind. The consciousness of this ambivalence
is characterized as “phantasy of mind” (‘Phantasiebewußtsein’ – cf.
Husserl 1969: 48, and Pochat 1996: 15). Recollection in this wider
sense is a sine qua non of creative reproduction, affecting the mind as
a whole. This emergence in phenomenology may be traced back to
Romanticism and even further, to the processes in the mind as dis-
cussed by Locke and Hume. Later on, Coleridge in his Biographia
Literaria (1817) dwells upon the distinction between Fancy and
Imagination – the first defined as “Memory blended and modified by
Choice; Imagination dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to recre-
ate” (Coleridge 1817/1907: chapter 13).

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268 Götz Pochat

So far, at this stage of discussion, we are still dealing with the

ordinary kind of memory and description of objects which are experi-
enced but absent and therefore substituted by description. But here,
too, it proves almost impossible to draw a clear line between object
and experience – is there such a thing as an objective description?
The stronger a verbal or illusionistic description, the more we are
inclined to yield to the suggestiveness of the representation. The
painter in former times was regarded as a magician, a mediator
between reality and the observer by way of mimesis (cf. Kris/Kurz
1934/1980: 89-120). Is there a psychological difference between a
vivid description by Thomas Hardy, as cited in Wolf’s introduction,
and a painting by Constable (cf. Wolf: 7 and Illustration 1)?

Illustration 1: John Constable, “Wivenhoe Park” (1816; detail). National Gallery,

Washington

As an analysis of descriptions shows, description in most, if not all,

cases – be they of a verbal or pictorial nature – transcends the state of
a mere reproduction. The components of most descriptions are chosen

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Description in the Visual Arts 269

from a reservoir of memories, decomposed and put into place again in

a new construction of a world, referred to by Coleridge as ‘Imagina-
tion’. Thus, even life-like descriptions contain an element of construc-
tion rather than of re-presentation, but I agree that explanation and
interpretation have nothing to do with it – on the contrary, they rather
counteract description as such. If, with regard to literary description,
Riffaterre therefore speaks of its primary function as being “to dictate
an interpretation”, the formal aspect of how something is described is
adumbrated (Riffaterre 1981: 125).
The analogous case of practical representation in the visual arts
(form, colour, expressiveness, etc.), however, does obviously not play
any role in Riffaterre’s consideration of a ‘meaningful construct’. In
my opinion, the formal ‘meaning’ on this level of pre-iconographical
description and experience is just what painterly description is all
about. Van Gogh, for instance, makes us ‘see something’: the pungent
yellow or the power of ultramarine in his “Wheat Field with Crows”
(1890).
This pre-iconographical description and the practical experience
related to it, dealing also with formal aspects and aesthetic apprecia-
tion, in some cases coincides with the general aspect of Panofsky’s
intrinsic meaning or symbolical value of a piece of art within the
cultural context on the whole (cf. Panofsky 1939/1962: 7). With re-
gard to still-life painting, for instance, the iconological question is not
necessarily concerned with a specific meaning revealed by descrip-
tion, but rather investigates the value of such pictorial descriptions
within a specific cultural context. Obviously, the strong demand for
still-life paintings in seventeenth-century Dutch society provided the
financial basis and means for a widespread specialization in this field
of painting. The fundamental question arising, as to whether a certain
tradition of representation may lead to specific expectations, selective
perception and widely accepted aesthetic norms, cannot be discussed
here, but has been dealt with at length by Gombrich. The sociological
explanation of an anthropological phenomenon may, however, turn
out to be a deadlock reminiscent of the insoluble question about the
hen and the egg. Svetlana Alpers has written a most influential book
with the challenging title The Art of Describing (1983), dealing with
description as the essential impetus and aspect of Dutch painting in
the 17th century (1985: 4-146). Francis Bacon, Huygens, Kepler and
Comenius were the champions of the empirical conquest of reality

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270 Götz Pochat

and the exact description of natural phenomena. The astronomer and

the geographer, as represented by Vermeer in two famous paintings in
Paris and Frankfort, by profession encompassed the field of natural
sciences of the age – map-making was explicitly addressed as
Descriptio mundi. The artist held a prominent place in society as an
expert in pictorial representation less concerned with the quantitative
aspect of the cognitive frame ‘description’, but rather with the quali-
tative aspect of ‘depiction’. Jan Vermeer’s famous painting “The
Painter in his Studio” (1665/1666, Illustration 2) serves as a brilliant
example in the line of Alpers’ argument (cf. Alpers 1985: 213;
Sedlmayr 1960).

Illustration 2: Jan Vermeer, “The Painter in his Studio” (1665/1666). Kunsthisto-

risches Museum, Vienna

As described by Ripa (cf. 1604/1970: 346), the woman with the attrib-
utes of laurel, a trumpet and a book represents the allegory of History,
i. e. Clio, but this interpretation is weakened by her strong physical
presence, the allegory brought back to life by acute observation and a
phenomenal technique. Painting itself, the conjuring make-believe,
may be seen as the self-referential object of the masterpiece – a recon-

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Description in the Visual Arts 271

struction of the intimate world of the studio, reflecting the everyday

life of the busy painter, who, himself a part of the setting, is depicting
his model’s laurel on the canvas and thus appears as master and
subject matter of the actual painting. Light is transformed into colour,
defining the objects and closing the gap between reality and the
réaliser on the canvas, enhancing the visual quality of experience,
leaving the spectator astounded by the strangeness of an interior at
first glance classified as familiar. Description, as practised by Ver-
meer, is not a mirror of visible reality but of the mind of the artist at
work. This complex subject touches the core of artistic creativity,
representing and transforming the world vu à travers un tempérament.
The true subject of the painting – cognition as a frame – is here
located in the realm of otherness, reflecting the autonomy of mind.
The spectator stands at the threshold of a room which he perceives but
will never enter.
Description is not an end in itself, but nonetheless an indispens-
able means of communication, in the realm of art and aesthetics as
well as with regard to cognition. In fact, Alpers and many scholars
with her have paid attention to the spectacular map of the Netherlands
covering the wall in the background. With utmost precision Vermeer
re-presented an actual map, of which one copy has been preserved in
Paris (Illustration 3; cf. Welu 1975 and 1978; Alpers 1985: 213).

Illustration 3: Detail from Jan Vermeer, “The Painter in his Studio” (see Illustration
2) with the printed Map by Claes Jansz Visscher. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

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272 Götz Pochat

The rendering of the northern and southern parts of the country hints
at the historical time passed, the country itself being the result of a
long historical process with intimations of a lost past and the potential
glory of future society. Clio, the personification of History, stands
between the painter and the map, which shows the art of mimetic
description in its most prestigious form but, at the same time, exem-
plifies a highly complex abstraction. In fact, the word Descriptio on
the upper border of the map denotes a geographical representation of
the world, ending up in a conceptual form of depiction. Many artists
were surely involved in the investigative conquest of the visual world
with all its scientific, commercial, and political implications. On the
lateral borders of the map a series of topographical views of Dutch
cities is shown within the frames of the cartouches – actualizing the
tradition of topographical representation, which in Holland became a
popular genre of painting itself (cf. Alpers 1985: 264). The depiction
of authentic cityscapes reached its climax with Vermeer’s “View of
Delft” (Mauritshuis, Den Haag; Illustration 4).

Illustration 4: Jan Vermeer, “View of Delft” (c. 1660). Mauritshuis, The Hague

The distinction between the accurate topographical description on the

verge of a scientific representation, making use of the camera obscura
and other devices responding to demands of a cognitive kind, and the

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Description in the Visual Arts 273

cognitive, abstract description of the map is, in the first place, a ques-
tion of function and social expectation.
The veduta in the eighteenth century can be gauged either way.
Canaletto was held in high esteem, not only as an outstanding painter,
but perhaps even more so by the English gentry having their castles
and the prestigious sites of their estates depicted (cf. Links 1982: 145-
180; Links/Baetjer 1989: 223-255). The commissioners certainly fo-
cussed primarily on the accurate description, and it took the genius of
Constable to escape from the straight-jacket of this demand.
Vermeer is only one of many painters reflecting upon description
and the vital role of mimesis in the process of artistic realization. The
wish to conjure up by means of a perfect illusion has been a constant
theme in literature and ekphrasis since antiquity (see Pygmalion’s
dream), the utopian quality of this dream notwithstanding. An inter-
esting painting by Magritte has come down to us, showing the artist
depicting his model, representing her as a real person in space, liber-
ated from the canvas she would normally merge with (Illustration 5).
The paradoxical nature of miraculous fiction is commented on in the
title: “Attempting the Impossible” (cf. Sylvester 1992: 148).

Illustration 5: René Magritte, “Attempting the Impossible” (1928). Toyota Museum,

Nagoya/Japan

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274 Götz Pochat

So far, I have dwelt upon some aspects of iconic description, waver-

ing between the representation of things, absent and unseen, and the
encounter with the world as reflected in the artefact. The examples
chosen make it clear that even the iconic description and identifica-
tion of simple objects tells us plenty about the general conditions
promoting the choice of motives and the mode of representation.
Moreover, the micro-genres cannot be separated from the general
frame, which in the visual arts, in my opinion, differs from the cogni-
tive macro-mode aimed at by verbal description and communication. I
will here discuss the arguments put forward by Wolf in his introduc-
tory statement on “descriptions in the pictorial medium (painting)”.
The “typical class of signs”, at first envisaged, concerns the simple
identification of “objects as static and spatial”. According to Wolf, a
pictorial medium such as painting appears to have a very high descrip-
tive potential, whereas the experience of its objects “requires only a
relatively low degree of recipients’ share […], since it permits the be-
holder to experience these objects in a way that is much closer to real-
life perception than is the case, e. g., in written literature” (Wolf: 39).
While Wolf focuses on a comparison between pictorial and verbal
media, one must emphasize that without such a comparative focus it
would be a simplification to relate painting to perception. In fact, such
a simplification would obscure the complexity of the matter from a
neuropsychological point of view and, moreover, would not do justice
to the mental processes involved in mimetic representations and their
mental reproduction on the part of the beholder. When hearing the
sentence, ‘the horse is rearing’, as well as when looking at a drawing
that shows a rearing horse, the brain of the recipient is triggered and
his mind starts reproducing the event hinted at and the circumstances
related to it. The word is not moving, nor is the depiction, but they are
experienced as dynamic, suggesting a movement. The function of
description, be it in words or in an image, is referential. Confusing a
depicted object – illusionistic and spatial as it may appear – with
reality is less probable, ‘impossible’ as Magritte asserted.
I agree with Wolf that the amount of information stored by the de-
piction of a tree would require a never-ending, quite tiring ekphrasis –
the simultaneity of iconic representation can conjure up an image
which looks as diversified and rich as phenomena in nature (see Illus-
tration 6).

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Description in the Visual Arts 275

Illustration 6: Camille Pissarro, “Gardenview from Pontoise” (1917). Louvre, Paris

But the process of making and matching is regulated by norms and

techniques related to the medium alone, the outcome of a longue
durée and personal skill (cf. Gombrich 1960/1968: 126-152). The
readiness of the spectator to respond to lines and dots, to ‘read’ these
codes as descriptions and references to real objects, is astonishing
indeed, and bears witness to the capability of a high degree of abstrac-
tion. I therefore venture to say that the ‘beholder’s share’, consciously
or not, is always operating at a high level. The dynamics of percep-
tion have been scrutinized for a long time, especially by Arnheim with
regard to the visual arts, and the phenomenon of projection itself had
been reflected upon even long before. The blottings by Alexander
Cozens may serve as an example (Illustration 7; cf. Cozens 1785/
1786)4.

4
The specific method of investigation of Cozens is discussed by Werner Busch (cf.
1993: 337-354). Further aspects of the dynamics of perception have especially been
dealt with by Rudolf Arnheim (cf. 1972, 1974 and 1978).

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276 Götz Pochat

Illustration 7: Alexander Cozens, “Blot Nr. 11” (1785/1786). British Museum, Lon-
don

Wolf has formulated the provocative question ‘whether there are any
pictures at all that are not descriptive’. Of course, all mimetic pictures
are descriptive in a simple way, notwithstanding the fact that they
consist of abstract, codified micro-signs put together in order to repre-
sent a certain motif. The pull of illusion indeed proved to be so strong
as to serve as a common denominator in the visual arts for about 800
years. Kandinsky stands at the end of this development, and his own
artistic career bears witness to the struggle of liberation while elimi-
nating mimesis. Yet in “Composition IV” from 1911, referred to by
Wolf, there are still traces of mountains, towers (the ‘Kremlin’),
riders, horses, battles, couples – lines and clusters of colour, intimat-
ing a world pervaded by a ‘sounding cosmos’, standing at the brink of
autonomy and self-referentiality – lines, colours and volumes, indexi-
cal traces of emotional response (Illustration 8; cf. Brucher 1999:
350-372).
Modern art is directed towards the world within, an emerging
structure and harmony hitherto unseen and unheard of, coming into
being – a revelation born out of the artist’s mind. Less a description, it

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Description in the Visual Arts 277

is true, but rather a divination of a spiritual kind, as stated by

Kandinsky himself in his book Über das Geistige in der Kunst, like-
wise from 1911. Also the pittura metafisica aimed at the Great
Spiritual ‘sub metaphoris corporalium’.

Illustration 8: Wassily Kandinsky, “Composition IV” (1911). Kunstsammlung

Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf

Even if there is such a thing as ‘abstract art’ – let us consider

Mondrian as another representative –, description does not completely
disappear there either, despite being directed towards structure and
energetic planes of colour, which, according to the artist, represent
underlying principles in nature and the cosmos by way of analogy.
The knowledge which arises in descriptions of abstract art is as differ-
entiated as that of mimetic art. We may compare Jackson Pollock’s
‘gestic painting’ (see Illustration 9) with Barnett Newman’s “Vir
heroicus Sublimis” (1958/1959), which cannot be defined by a one-
way reference to well-known motifs and concepts, but rather as a
deictic approximation toward expression, reflecting the state of the
artist’s mind (cf. Newman 1996: 179). Boehm has discussed the con-
vergence of processual abstract art and ekphrasis with regard to the
deictic, making the spectator see what has been brought to light (cf.
Boehm 1995: 23-40).

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278 Götz Pochat

Illustration 9: Jackson Pollock while ‘drip painting’

Wolf rightly speaks of a minimum of representationality required to

evoke illusion and narrativity (cf. Wolf in this volume: 40). Giotto’s
fresco of the “Flight into Egypt” in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova
(about 1305 A.D.), is referred to as an example of a “schematic, low-
degree landscape description” (ibid.: 42; see Illustration 10). It is true
– mountain forests were certainly “not among the main interests of
[the] painter” (ibid.: 42). But on the other hand, an application of our
standards of illusion may prove fallacious. As spectators we have the
possibility and ability to ‘adjust our mental set’, as Gombrich puts it.
Compared to fresco-painting in the late thirteenth century, Giotto
certainly embarked on an illusionistic adventure undreamt of before.
At the same time, description as a means of illusion is never pushed
beyond a certain point; it is rather balanced and even reduced, due to
other artistic considerations.

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Description in the Visual Arts 279

Illustration 10: Giotto, “Flight into Egypt” (1305). Scrovegni Chapel, Padova

Mother and infant, riding on the donkey, occupy the centre of the
square, according to Arnheim, the least dynamic position of an object
on a plane – intimating stability and certainty5. The group is further
stabilized by the mountain peak looming in the background. At the
same time, Giotto had to represent a passing moment – the donkey
and the other protagonists ‘move’ across the picture plane from left to
right. The position of the lines and the torsion of the bodies, not to
speak of the foreshortened angel showing the way, certainly evoke
this effect – Wolf later on concedes “a particularly large share of the
recipients’ imaginary activity” while experiencing movement in
bodies (ibid.: 44). The effect of transitoriness is further enhanced by
the companion just entering the picture on the left, or the contour of
Joseph overlapped by the framing border on the right. Depth in space
is hinted at by the smaller and darker mountain to the left. The
dominant sweeping contours of the mountains falling down diagonal-
ly from left to right enhance the forward pull of the group, especially

5
Structure and dynamics of perception have been dealt with by Arnheim through-
out his life. Cf. for instance Die Macht der Mitte (1982). As for Giotto, Imdahl has
brought earlier discussions to an unexpected revival (cf. 1980).

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280 Götz Pochat

accentuated by the right arm of Joseph who is about to vanish out of

sight (cf. Imdahl 1980: 49; Pochat 1996: 249). The position of the
tree-trunks, stabilizing verticals or slight diagonals, also indicates
both stasis and movement. A raising diagonal from left to right – the
arm of the companion, the bridle and the neck of the donkey,
culminating in Josef’s head and shoulders – serves as a counterpoint,
indicating the direction of the protagonists. All of this is effectuated
within the square of the fresco, which never gives up its specific
character being an iconic structure restricted to a plane. The indexical
hints are incorporated into a calculated, apparently simple order
which turns out to be highly complex. We are confronted with a
formal deictic frame, an icon corresponding, by way of analogy, to the
true subject matter: “The Flight to Egypt”, transitory, yet fixed. For
these reasons I cannot see why paintings, as asserted, have “obvious
limitations in realizing […] the temporal frame of representation par
excellence, namely narratives” (Wolf in this volume: 44).
Although restricted to the representation of single events and spe-
cific objects, references to the past or to the future within a narration
are abundant in the visual arts. Temporality, in fact, is a constitutive
part of representation, mimetic and expressive, as well as of percep-
tion. The depiction of a verbal story in art may be called intermedial,
but most of the stories themselves are related, in their turn, to concep-
tual frames of a more general kind. This is also the case in pictures.
Bialostocki talks about general human topics as iconographical
‘framing themes’ (“Rahmenthemen”, see Bialostocki 1966). As for
religious motifs and biblical texts, these meta-frames serve as a sine
qua non of any story told or represented, and the description or repre-
sentation itself is, in the end, also related to the exegesis, or, in the
profane context, to an implicit moral lesson. Detailed information on
single objects and constellations refers to concepts and events, repre-
sented by visual objects, figures, signs and symbols. Description,
thus, is not only restricted to the presentation and identification of the
motives enumerated. They serve as vehicles as well, i. e. as references
to a referent of a more general kind. Wolf has given us a good exam-
ple of this in his analysis of Wüest’s “Rhône Glacier when looking
north-east” from 1772/1773 (Illustration 11, cf. Wolf in this volume:
47f.).

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Description in the Visual Arts 281

Illustration 11: Johann Heinrich Wüest, “The Rhône Glacier when looking north-
east” (1772/1773). Kunsthaus, Zurich

The minute figures in the foreground reflect different attitudes and re-
actions in the observer himself. As he is caught by the overwhelming
dimensions and the force of the scenery, the painting mediates awe,
enjoyment of the spectacle, and the actual representation of the
panorama by an artist. The ‘reception figures’ are shown as reacting
to Nature. The referent, in their case, is not located in the landscape,
but rather their state of mind, revealed by gestures and the like.
Whereas Burke stressed the physical conditioning of fear and terror,
Wüest seems to take sides with Diderot and Kant here, relegating the

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282 Götz Pochat

Sublime to the realm of psychology6. Even in this landscape painting,

which is not primarily narrative, the motif itself and the minute fig-
ures represented suffice to direct attention to a conceptual frame re-
flecting aesthetics.
The analysis of Giotto’s “Flight into Egypt” concerned the formal
structure as related to the represented narrative. The second layer of
Panofsky’s iconology not only dealt with the content of ‘images,
stories and allegories’, but also with the question of how a picture can
refer to an action unfolding in time. Description here also functions as
a reference to a conceptual frame. During some periods of cultural
history there was a tendency even to imbue single objects with a sym-
bolical value – the locus classicus of Thomas Aquinas has deliber-
ately been chosen as the title to this paper: spiritualia sub metaphoris
corporalium (Summa Theologica I, qu. I art. 9, c). The problem of
‘disguised symbolism’ (Panofsky) emerging in early Netherlandish
painting arises from the fact that the minute description of a con-
temporary interior is packed with objects, the referential function of
which is sometimes hard to prove. Iconographical tradition helps to
clarify the significance (cf. Panofsky 1971: 1242).
The Mérode Altarpiece by Robert Campin (about 1425; Metropoli-
tan Museum, Cloisters, New York; Illustration 12) may here serve as
an example: the pot with the lilies on the table refers to the chastity of
the virgin, as do the laver and basin as substitutes for the ‘fountain of
gardens’ and the ‘well of living waters’. The lions in the armrest of
the bench refer to the Throne of Solomon (I Kings X, 18 ff.), a simile
of the Madonna as Sedes Sapientiae. The candle on the table may
signify Christ – Christus […] est candela accensa (Spec. hum.
salvationis, chap. 10), though the extinction, according to Panofsky,
could refer to the notion of St. Bridget that the mother by the radiance
of Light Divine became “reduced to nothingness” (Panofsky 1971:
142).

6
As for the different aspects of the Sublime as stated by Burke, Diderot and Kant
see Pries 1989: 1-90; Pochat 1986: 419-423, 451-452, 513-517.

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Description in the Visual Arts 283

Illustration 12: Robert Campin, “The Annunciation” (Mérode Altarpiece; 1425).

Metropolitan Museum, Cloisters, New York

In the Lucca-Madonna by Jan van Eyck (Städelsches Kunstinstitut,

Frankfort) about ten years later, we are confronted with the same
constellation, now, however, in a more restricted but highly illusionis-
tic representation of the interior. The motif of the Madonna lactans is
here combined with the illuminated glass carafe in the niche, referring
to the vision of St. Bridget, recapitulated by the Nativity Hymn:
As the sunbeam through the glass
passeth but not breaketh,
So the Virgin, as she was,
Virgin still remaineth. (Panofsky 1953/1971: 144; see also Meiss 1945)

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284 Götz Pochat

The referent, made visible by description, in turn refers to a meaning

underlying the picture as a whole: the purity of the Virgin.
If we turn once more to the Mérode altarpiece, which represents
the crucial event of the Annunciation, we certainly deal with a narra-
tive subject. The extensive research devoted to this painting has prog-
ressed further since Schapiro and Panofsky. What moment of the
event has been chosen? Has the angel already announced to the Virgin
still reading in her breviary? The tiny depiction of the infant carrying
the cross and just intruding through the circular window to the left,
was normally accompanied by the dove of the Holy Ghost. Has he
already reached his goal? The sumptuous codex on the table has been
identified by Châtelet as the Exposition of Ludolph of Saxony on the
life of the Virgin (cf. Châtelet 1996: 102). Ludolph, in another text,
describes the descent of the Holy Ghost on the occasion of the Pen-
tecost in terms of a blowing wind. According to Bonaventura in his
Lignum vitae (c. 1250), the Holy Ghost “came over her like a divine
fire, inflaming her mind and sanctifying the flesh with the most
perfect purity. Then the virtue of the most High was infused into her
in order that she might be able to sustain such ardor.” (In Robb 1936:
523) We can thus conclude that the divine wind, or fire, has already
passed and extinguished the candle in doing so.

Illustration 13: Detail from Robert Campin, “The Annunciation” (see Illustration 12)

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Description in the Visual Arts 285

Reuterswärd drew attention to another indication of the occurrence:

the parchment folios of the codex (also dealing with the subject) have
been curled up as if having been exposed to great heat (Illustration
13; cf. Reuterswärd 1998: 47; Pochat 2004: 130). Previous stages of
the narrative are made visible, the incarnation itself is just about to
take place.
The cognitive limitations of narrative in the visual arts are
compensated by a wide range of references, located in the past or in
the future. Pictorial narrativity is endowed with a complexity which is
different but as diversified as in verbal narratives. An apparently
‘realistic scene’ and single motifs are saturated with meaning, though
we can never be sure to grasp them all, nor can we speak of the ‘one
and only’ intention behind them. Pictorial representations, ambiguous
as they may be with regard to narrativity and descriptivity, are, by
their own means, no less suggestive and far-reaching than their verbal
counterparts. Description as such is therefore – as well as narrative –
certainly a transmedial mode of representation, not restricted to verbal
texts, or pictures for that matter.

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