Gabriele Castagnola was an Italian artist who was an active oil painter of the 19th century in Florence.  Out of many of his paintings, he painting created in 1873 by Gabriele Castagnola titled Love or Duty stands out to most viewers due to its questionable meanings and variety of textures and colors.  It depicts a woman dressed as a nun and a royally dressed man who appears to be creating a portrait of a mother and her two children.  Because of Castagnola's many different artistic choices in this painting, I argue that the nun is torn between her heart and her duty to God so she is turning to God for the right answer. 

When interpreting Love or Duty, the viewer's eyes go right to the nun in the center of the page.  At first glance one notices her gaze: it is not looking at the man looking up to her or straight out to the viewer but she is looking slightly down at something bigger in the distance, almost as if she is deep in thought.  She is deep in thought about the decision between her heart and her God.  A big reason the eyes go right to the nun's gaze is because in this dark and dreary picture the nun is dressed in an innocent, white head piece and cloak making her figure stand out the most.  This white resembles innocence due to the purity and wholeness of the color.  The viewer also notices the big canvas the painter was sitting in front of.  The painter appears to be finished with his piece of art and after concluding that, one can interpret that the nun and painter were meeting up to discuss her decision after his session with the people in the painting.  My overall first impression left me feeling very solemn for there was not much emotion in any of the faces, no movement and no brightness in color.

Once one gets past the first impression they then pick up on the design elements that appear in this one image. This piece of artwork felt very realistic to me. Even though viewers looking at this painting today were not alive in the late 1800's, they feel like they were.  This painting can create a clear mental picture of what life looked like due to the colors and dress of the characters portrayed.  This realism helps in creating my interpretation because I feel like in today's society it would be more common to see a nun leave the church to be with a man compared to back then because in today's news it is common to hear about a violation that happened within the church.  There are no abstract lines or abstract objects that stand out adding to the solemn mood of the nun trying to think about the decision she is going to make about her love for God and the man.  Through the colors and design of her dress, one is clearly able to interpret that the woman in this is a nun.  It is hard to depict the painter's face because he is turned to the side, but if you look closely you are able to see him looking up at the nun with a look of hopefulness.  I interpret his look as a look of hopelessness because he continues to keep his eyes on her even though she is looking away from him. Lastly, Castagnola's choice on the space and proximity within this painting play an important role in interpretation.  This is important because not only does the viewer get to see the full length bodies of the characters in this painting but he or she also gets a lot of the room the characters are in. Seeing a lot of the room effects the interpretation because it would take away the royalty setting and feel of the characters.  Without seeing the nun's full body holding the painter's hands, the interpretation of them being in love could change because you would only see two people, a guy looking up to her and the nun just looking away.  

Not only does this painting portray life in the 19th century but it also provides a clue as to what a job of a painter for a royal family is like: sitting in a dim room painting canvas after canvas of the same family.  Due to of Castagnola's artistic choices in the painting he creates a theme that helps the viewer form their own interpretation.  The theme of royalty is very prominent whether this nun is a form of royalty or this painter but in my interpretation neither are royal, they both work for a royal family or within a royal community.  If they didn't work for the same royal family, their love would never have begun and the nun would not be in the current situation as she is right now.  In my interpretation the theme of wanting something you can't have is clearly represented.  You can tell in the painter's eyes that he is holding on to her hand and looking up to her with angst, just waiting to hear her answer. In the nun's eyes you can see a bit of helplessness, she wants to keep ahold of the painter's hand yet she knows its her duty to love God and only God.  There could be a happy ending to this painting; she turns back to the painter and confesses her love to him.  They do not know what their future holds but they will now take on the future consequences together.

Through close reading a visual text one has the ability to interpret, discuss and make meaning all from information presented in the form of one image.  Gabriele Castagnola's painting Love or Duty could have many different interpretations.  After close reading this myself I came up with the interpretation that this present nun has fallen in love with this painter through their duties to a royal family or community.  However, since the nun has made a commitment to God she is torn between what she is feeling and her obligation to her duty of faith.  The painter, who is in love with the nun, is torn between his love for her and his sense of doing what is right, letting her go to keep her commitment to her God.   This interpretation not only came to me from my first reactions to this painting but also through Castagnola's artistic decisions when creating this painting. 

