W.J.T. Mitchell's Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology

In this reading, Mitchell looks at the different ways we use the word "image" and reveals some of the problems that we encounter when we define the word simply in the visual context of the word. Mitchell first breaks up the different ways we define "image" into the pictorial definition, that we are most used to (ie. graphics, statues, mirrors, projections). He then departs from this widely known meaning of the word to also include mental and verbal images (ie. dreams, memories, ideas, descriptions, etc) He explains some of the difficulties that people have in describing those of the second definition as "images." These difficulties include a lack of fixed experiences. Mental images differ from person to person, so it is understandable that this would cause some confusion in defining "image." Mitchell argues that images "proper" are really not as static as people really think they are. They can be perceived just as differently as visual and dream images can be. Mitchell then shows how verbal images and pictorial images are interrelated in hieroglyphics. We are used to having words having symbolic meanings that reach into our minds and create mental images.
Mitchell then goes into the spiritual definition for image, "likeness." I think our definition of "likeness is less exact than "image". While we can say that something is a likeness of another, it is not a replica.
I don't really understand Lessing's belief that "painting is incapable of telling stories because its imitation is static rather than progressive, and that it should not try to articulate ideas because these are properly expressed in language rather than in imagery." (pg 40) In this statement, I'm not really sure what he means by saying "imitation is static." I understand that words are usually better at explaining than pictures are. I believe Mark Twain is right when he states how important a label can be in helping express the attitude and expression in a painting. Because of the label explaining Guido Reni's portrait of Beatrice Cenci, people feel incredibly moved by the situation of the girl, while this same feeling might not be if it were not for the label. But I think that because images "proper" and verbal images are tied so closely together that sometimes it is necessary to use both in order to gain a full understanding.