Jewish cultural imagery
In the clothing, the scenery, the home decorations, in the religious artifacts in their homes, it is perfectly obvious that Asher is thoroughly Jewish. He is Jewish in a sincere way, too, it seems, having understood his cultural identity through studying the scriptures. He is surrounded by life in the traditional Jewish way, and his daily life takes him to the occasional Bar Mitzvah or temple.
The Christian imagery of Italy
The scenery of Italy is thoroughly Christian, and of course Asher understands that world view to be related to his own, since Christians believe Jesus literally was the Jewish messiah. In Italy, Asher encounters various crosses, since Italy is thoroughly decorated with crosses, crosses as steeples, crosses on building walls, crosses in the public—crosses everywhere. Asher experiences not only the visual experience of Italy, but he also encounters an emotional religious experience there.
The imagery of Paris
After his time in Italy, Asher goes to Paris. He encounters something also thoroughly Christian in origin, but way less Christian in actual practice. Although Paris is filled with religious structures, the city itself leans in a liberal direction, and Asher finds himself excited to art by the intellectual experience he has there. He ends up painting about death, about God, and about his mother, depicting her crucified.
The imagery of art
The reader encounters prose descriptions of visual artworks, forming through imagery the emotional experience one might have by seeing the hypothetical portraits. The imagery can also be viewed as meta-narrative, or even art theory, because it provides a kind of narrative commentary on art and painting in particular. Through this, we can see that Asher's life is spend in religious modes of consciousness because of his practice of art.
