A Syncretistic Theory of Depiction

In A Syncretistic Theory of Depiction, Alberto Voltolini argues for a synthesis of the resemblance and seeing-in theories of depiction. Voltolini’s theory is encapsulated in the following analysis: An item P depicts a subject O, where O can be either a particular individual or any individual of a certain kind, iff (i) one has a certain seeing-in state involving P whose configurational fold grasps the grouping properties that P roughly shares with O, while its recognitional fold is the knowingly illusory perception as of a thing of a kind under which O falls, and (ii) P entertains the right causal/intentional relation with O. (167) The Mona Lisa, for example, depicts Lisa, according to Voltolini, because (i) one has a two-fold experience of seeing Lisa in the Mona Lisa, the first fold of which consists in veridically seeing the design of the Mona Lisa organized in such a way that it resembles Lisa, and the second fold of which involves a knowingly illusory experience as of Lisa, and (ii) the Mona Lisa stands in the right causal/intentional relation to Lisa

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