ABSTRACT
E. H. Gombrich's investigations into the history of art have led him to discuss several topics that have absorbed the attention of philosophers, especially the notions of human action, intention and emotion. In the art of painting these notions intersect in interesting ways, and it is through an understanding of them that we can gain insights into the problems faced by artists in their task of representing the human figure and into the problems faced by historians, critics and spectators in their practices of understanding and appreciating what artists have done. The antique tradition of art inherited by the Renaissance defines it as "the imitation of men in action" and it is the painterly representation of human action that concerns Gombrich. Gombrich makes a distinction among the kinds of gestures and expressions that are characteristic of human emotion. If art is the imitation of life and of people in action, then there is no logical room for theoretical skepticism in painting.
