Detail (work of art)

Short description: Isolated element within a work of art

Detail of the putti from The Sistine Madonna by Raphael

Entirety of The Sistine Madonna by Raphael

A detail is an isolated element within a work of art, particularly from a painting, sculpture or building.[1]

## Overview

A detail is distinct from the general composition of a work of art.[1] The art historian Jennifer Raab of Yale University describes it as inherently contradictory: "it can delineate difference or emphasize unity".[2] She furthers that "the detail always points away from itself to something else–to other parts of a picture, to the work of art as a whole".[2]

When a detail is reproduced, this is noted in the work of art's caption.[2]

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "detail, n.: 4a.". OED Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/51168. Retrieved 3 June 2023. (Subscription content?)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Raab, Jennifer (2015). Frederic Church: The Art and Science of Detail. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-21286-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=y3OhCgAAQBAJ.

## Further reading

* Arasse, Daniel (1992) (in French). Le détail: pour une histoire rapprochée de la peinture. Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-010962-0. OCLC 231856097.

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