Nonverbal elements of selected speech acts presented by fine arts paintings
The article describes ways of presenting various speech acts in visual arts. Their unmistakable recognition by the painting’s viewer is rendered possible because the painter usually shows that which is characteristic of individual speech acts — such as conversation, preaching, argument, or swearing-in — namely, the gestures, facial expressions, arrangement of hands, protagonists’ mutual positioning, a venue typical for a given speech act, and the usual paraphernalia accompanying a verbal interaction. An analysis of various painting artworks has shown that these elements are displayed in certain formulaic arrangements, some of which used to be described in art treatises as examples to be followed by the painter.