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This study is an archeological investigation into the historically changing relationship between words and images. The result is an encyclopedia of interpretative techniques in which language functions as a model of thought.
Three periods come to the fore. In the classical one, grammatical structures are responsible for the dominance of describing and identifying activities. Thought about art departs from the idea, that classificatory systems (words) represent images. Art criticism is the form of interpretation in this period.
In the modern period time moves to the foreground. Now attention is focused on changes in grammatical forms instead of changes in constant structures. A hermeneutic form of interpretation comes into being: Art History.
In the postmodern period one realizes that words fail to establish a consistent relationship with visuality. New, semiological theories of interpretation now explain what images can signify.
This volume is of interest for philosophers of art and art theoreticians, as well as for students and professionals in both fields.