14 ~ Learning to Look

Artists created Christian works according to strict standards, so looking at a work of art centuries later can be puzzling or profound. It depends on how much information you gather and how the art affects you personally. Looking at Christian art, you can use some or all these questions to analyze an artist’s approach, a work’s meaning, and your response to it.

1. What is the work’s title? What insight does it lend to the content?
2. Who was the artist? Do you know anything about this person? If so, what? How might his or her life and other art affect this work?
3. When did the artist create the work? If you know anything about this time period or art era, how might it have affected the artist or the work of art?
4. What materials did the artist use to create this work? What did these materials contribute to its overall presence?
5. How would you describe the artist’s style? Why might he or she have chosen it?
6. How did composition, color, line, shading, perspective, and other elements or techniques contribute to the overall work?
7. What was the purpose of this work? If you don’t know, what would you guess it to be?
8. Was this work commissioned by a patron? How might this have affected the outcome?
9. If figures appear in the work, who are they? What do you know about them? Or how could you learn about them? Why were these figures meaningful to Christians?
10. What was the setting for the figures? What did this location contribute to the work?
11. What symbolism exists in the work? What did it mean to Christians of this era?
12. Was this work of art based on a biblical story or passage? If so, what was it? Why was it significant?
13. Can you discern a lesson or message in the work of art? If so, what is it?
14. How does this work qualify as Christian art?
15. What is your opinion of the work? Do you like it? Why, or why not?

Learn more about Christian art in Judith Couchman’s book, The Art of Faith: A Guide to Understanding Christian Images (Paraclete).