ABSTRACT
A deep answer builds upon a theory of pictorial value, which states what it is for a picture to have value as a picture. Since the psychologist program is to understand pictorial value by appeal to the value of appreciation, it follows that the target is pictorial appreciation—that is, appreciation of a picture as a picture. Without some restriction on which pictorial experiences are good, pictures turn out to have many, many more merits than film analysts imagine. Insofar as quattrocento painting demands of its target audience picture-specific skills, acquires the same skills as part of learning the tradition. In the context of quattrocento painting, vividness is a merit of the Piero. The argument for putting value first is that it better accommodates empirical art studies, where values are seen as intimately embedded in social structures, while at the same time delivering an account of what makes some appreciations specifically pictorial.
