Visual Analysis Paper on Edgar Degas’ painting, The Dance Class (1873), Musée d’Orsay

Visual Analysis Paper

A visual analysis essay asks you to interpret a work of art. The goal of your essay is to identify a striking or puzzling element in the work and to explore the consequences it has for the meaning of the work as a whole. By doing so, you are generating a visual analysis of the work, that is, you are offering a possible explanation of what the work means. Select a work of art of your choice from the list of topics provided. Each work is paired with a puzzling element – the interpretive problem. Begin your essay by introducing and describing the work (paragraph 1), followed by a focus paragraph (paragraph 2) that sets up what you will do in the body of the essay. Then continue with your visual analysis in the body of the essay. Follow the instructions below.

Paragraph 1: Short Visual Description

Write a short visual description, between 14 and 16 lines, of the work you have chosen. Do not forget to identify the artist, the work’s title (italicized), date (in brackets), and location in the first sentence. Begin the first sentence of your paragraph in this way: “Caravaggio’s St. John the Baptist (1602), Capitoline Museums, Rome, shows…” using the informationpertaining to your object. Be thorough and specific. Focus on the main aspects of the work, do not worry about minor details or try to describe everything you see. Do NOT interpret the work or write what you think about it – this will come later in the essay. Try to be as objective as possible in your description. Bear in mind that your reader will become confused if you refer obliquely to the work or do not refer to precise areas of the work.

Paragraph 2: Focus Paragraph

The second paragraph sets up the problem and question your essay seeks to answer in the work; you are to identify a puzzling feature and ask what its consequences are for the rest of the work. The problem is provided for you in the handout of essay topics. Write a paragraph that:

(1) Identifies the PROBLEM/PUZZLING FEATURE (A puzzling aspect of the work is…) (2) Poses a QUESTION about it (What are the consequences of this unusual feature for the meaning of the work as a whole?)
(3) Presents a ROAD-MAP that anticipates how you will answer this question – the aspects of the work that you will explore (To answer this question, this essay will consider…)

(4) Articulates WHY THE READER SHOULD CARE (e.g. This topic is important to consider because…)

The focus paragraph has this specific structure and should contain the above four elements. Do not put down a thesis statement in this paragraph. Read the sample essay beginning on pg.3-4 and use it as a guide to write your own.

Body of the Essay

In the body of the essay, continue by following through with your road-map to answer the question you posed in paragraph two. Even though you have already described the work in your first paragraph, you will continue to refer to the work to make your points. This time, however, you are not just describing objectively, you are making interpretive claims about the work. The answer to the question you posed is internal to the painting; thus, you will use its visual evidence to support your claims. Interpreting or “reading” a painting means that you are attending to its visual language – the arrangement of forms, lines and colors on the surface (the parts) and their relationships to one another – and deducing the meaning of the work from these observations. To support your points, you may compare the work to other relevant works from the period. Avoid over-generalizing statements, be specific when referring to the work, and do not formulate a thesis statement from the start. Let your thesis emerge as you write.

Each paragraph in the body of your essay should contain a clear interpretative claim that builds on the claim in the previous paragraph. Connect the paragraphs using smooth transitions. The thesis should appear in the very last paragraph, the conclusion.

Research
You should consult at least three scholarly sources to familiarize yourself with the work and its historical and cultural context – but the visual analysis should ultimately be your own.

***

Format
The essay should be 2000 words in length (approximately 6 pages), double-spaced, in 12- point font, Times New Roman. Use paragraph indentation and do not add gaps between paragraphs. Single-space your name, the course title, and my name in the upper right-hand corner of your first page. Center the title, number your pages and images, and provide full captions for the latter. Cite your sources using footnotes in Chicago Manual Style.

*Include a selfie photo with yourself next to the painting to show that you saw the work in person. Visit the museum early to make sure that the work is on view.

Due Date
Submit your essay by Wednesday, May 8 on Blackboard under “Assignments.”

SAMPLE ESSAY BEGINNING*

Rosso Fiorentino’s Dead Christ with Angels (1525-6), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Figure 1) shows Christ surrounded by four angels; one palpates his side wound, two others witness the act, and a third leans forward to improve his view. The figure of Christ, at center, is monumental. His torso is broad and massive, his arms and legs thick and muscular, his hands and feet large: a huge body – both absolutely and in relation to the containing frame – folded in on itself. With the head inclined to the shoulder, the legs bent and tense, the body twists sharply to the side and tenses up into a crescent shape while the thick legs advance towards the picture plane and then retreat. This twisting movement of the body is nevertheless contained by the compositional ellipse and stabilized by the two vertical candles at the sides. Light cast from the left softens his muscular structure and makes sensuous the torso and belly, with their creases at the waist and swellings. What is more, Rosso drapes a dark cloth over the seat, thereby obscuring the relation of Christ’s deeply shadowed haunch to the seat. Inexplicably, his feet appear to support his body on two tense toes. Christ’s torso is pushed forward by the bodies of the two outermost angels, brought to the surface in the upper part of the panel by their candles, their golden hair, and the hot, brilliant golden splashes of their robes. Colored old ivory, the body is surrounded by three areas of clashing raspberry and grass green, salmon and turquoise, terra cotta and dark slate blue. But while Christ’s knees approach even closer to the viewer, apparently breaking through the surface of the panel, the lower bodies of the angels retreat to a location behind the seat.

A puzzling aspect of the painting is the orientation and posture of Christ’s body amid the angels. The darkness of the space around his torso and the absence of a secure seat are an unusual way to render a seemingly-seated figure. As a result, Christ’s self-supporting body appears suspended in the air, giving the impression of being more alive than dead. What are the consequences of this bodily paradox for the meaning of the work as a whole? To answer

this question, it will be important to consider the combination of relaxation in Christ’s upper body and the tension in his legs, particularly his toes, his facial expression, as well as the role that light and shadow play in defining the figure’s relationship to the setting. The discussion will also include a consideration of Christocentric works by Michelangelo and Pontormo in order to shed light on Rosso’s depiction of the dead Christ. Rosso’s painting is an important work from the Italian Renaissance and its analysis can help us better understand how artists visualized the nature of divine death in response to theological debate on this controversial question.

Figure 1. Rosso Fiorentino, Dead Christ with Angels (1525-6), oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

*The two paragraphs are modified passages taken from Regina Stefaniak, “Replicating Mysteries of the Passion: Rosso’s Dead Christ with Angels,” Renaissance Quarterly 45, no. 4 (1992): 677–738.