A detail is an isolated element within a work of art, particularly from a painting, sculpture or building.[1]
A detail is distinct from the general composition of a work of art.[1] The art historian Jennifer Raab of Yale University describes it as inherently contradictory: "it can delineate difference or emphasize unity".[2] She furthers that "the detail always points away from itself to something else–to other parts of a picture, to the work of art as a whole".[2]
When a detail is reproduced, this is noted in the work of art's caption.[2]
fr:Daniel Arasse
. 1992 . Le détail: pour une histoire rapprochée de la peinture . The Detail: For a Close History of Painting . French . . Paris . 978-2-08-010962-0 . 231856097 .