2008/03/31 by Albert Rothenberg · 24 citations
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #Categorization, perception, and language #Metaphor #Portrait #Art #Articulation (sociology) #Acknowledgement #Aesthetics #Psychology #Visual arts #Linguistics #Philosophy #Computer science #Politics
paper · doi:10.1080/10926480801944269
published in Metaphor and Symbol 23(2), 108-129 (Routledge)
openalex publication_date 2008/03/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Rembrandt van Rijn created the largest number of self-portraits of any major artist in history. On the basis of the interactionist conception of created metaphor, Rembrandt's production of an artistic genre of pictorial metaphor of self is described. Through a consistent compositional and content unification of the expressive portrait mouth with diverse types of costumes, he created an organic artistic model of meaningful and beautiful self-portraiture. Rembrandt's self as presented metaphorically represents the universe of art and artist. Because this compositional pictorial metaphor of self feature has not previously been recognized, a controlled empirical study was done indicating the significant characteristic association with Rembrandt's oeuvre. Creation of this metaphor is postulated as resulting from his use of the cognitive creative homospatial process—actively conceiving two or more discrete entities occupying the same mentally represented space, a conception leading to the articulation of new identities.