1) Begin your study process by viewing your chosen work in the museum. Spend a minimum of 3 hours to look deeply at your chosen work to get familiar with its physical aspects. 2) Research the subject matter, style, your artist’s life, his oeuvre (the works of an artist), and works of the same subject by other artists. Ask yourself such questions: what does the work represent (what is the subject matter)? How did your artist depict the picture (composition, iconography, style, etc.)? 3) Conduct comparative analysis: find another work (or other works) of the same subject by the same artist or by a different artist of the contemporary or earlier period. Ask yourself such questions: how is your chosen work different from the work(s) to be compared with? How is your artist reinterpreting a representational tradition through the work? How might the image of the type have changed over time due to the change of historical, social, or religious settings, etc.? 4) Place the artwork(s) in historical, cultural, and religious contexts.
