This is a painting of a man and a woman.

Because we are human, we rarely just identify things; we also want to know what they mean - we want to know the story of what has been going on before and what will go on after the moment depicted in this painting. We start reading things into the situation.

If we see somebody in real life with a very red face, we don't just say: "Oh, a person with a red face," we read some meaning into the red face. We might decide the person:

• has been out in the sun,
• running or exercising in some way,
• has just come in from the cold ,
• over indulges alcohol,
• or is very embarrassed,
• or a variety of other possibilities.

We might be accused by somebody of  "reading things" into a situation, but this is what we are designed to do. We "read into things" in real life, and into that other form of life that exists in works of art.

This painting tells a story. How much of a story depends on how much we read into what we see. This is not just a man and a woman. The painter has chosen to include objects in the room. They are not just there by accident. They help tell the story of the man and the woman.

• This painting tells a story.
• To do so, the viewer has to read the messages left by the painter.
• The painter uses real objects, which are also symbols - they carry messages.
• The viewer may "read" this painting in a way the painter did not intend - but it is nevertheless an alternative reading.
• All art has an "authorial intention" behind it.
• All art is then interpreted - this is what you are being asked to do in your Literature course. You do not just quote (say what is there, or re-tell the story), you explain why it is there.

Question 1: What can you say about their relationship? How can you read this from the picture?

Question 2: What does this painting tell you about the social position of the people in it?  How does it do this?

Question 3: What is the cat doing?  What might this represent?

Question 4: How is the way the woman is dressed different from the way the man is dressed? What does this indicate?

Question 5: What does it tell you that in 1856 Thomas Fairbairn (the original owner of the painting) instructed Hunt to repaint the girl’s face, as he found it too painful to live with?

Question 6: What does the woman's left hand reveal? Click here for a more detailed view of her hand.

Question 7:  What does knowing about the model Annie Miller, add to your understanding of the painting?

Question 8: What does the additional information here tell you about the picture? (What is inscribed on the frame?)