Scholarly attempts to interpret and evaluate a work of art must choose between two paths. The point at which these two paths diverge is the experience of art; the primary, indivisible fact that the work is present and exercises a direct effect upon the recipient. From here on, the analytical direction, so to speak, takes the low road. It seeks, on the one hand, the historical conditions that allow the work to be classified intelligibly in terms of the history of art. On the other hand, it draws out from the work of art its specific effective forces: the degree of rigidity or relaxation of the form, the schema of the composition, the use of spatial dimensions, the application of color, the selection of subject matter, and much else.