Dűrer, Albrecht, 1500, Astronomer, Woodcut, British Museum, London, (Source: Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu)

We can see that there is man seated holding a globe and apparently measuring it with dividers. Beyond is a natural landscape the most dominant feature of which is the full moon in the sky.

The moon in this picture is an example of a representational symbol. The white circular shape is visually suggestive of the moon but is very simplified with no detail. The mechanical looking device appears to be a planetarium. It is inscribed with astrological symbols. It is quite possible that the meaning of these is not accessible to all who view this image. They are examples of a special class of symbol called signs. Signs are understood only by agreement or convention. Signs generally do not convey any suggestive visual characteristics relating to what they stand for. These particular signs are representative of planets and are still used today, however, unless you are engaged with astrology you could be forgiven for being ignorant of this. You may even have attributed contemporary meanings to a sign that you thought you recognized, such as the symbol commonly used to represent a female (also the sign for Venus). In this case you may have attributed meaning unintended by the artist.

This woodcut image has another level of symbolism at work. The attire of the bearded gentleman is likely to have cultural significance totally lost to a present day audience. The most we may make of it is that it is not of our time. Yet in Dűrer’s time the clothes probably denoted considerable information about the man’s social standing.

As an exercise you could also consider Dűrer’s Astronomer illustration on purely formal grounds. You may find it helpful to think about the quality of the line work, the use of white space, the direction of line work, the use of shape and framing.