This paper addresses the issue of aesthetic response in relation to both literature and painting. Although "spectator theory" crops up in various forms in accounts of what happens when one reads stories or looks at pictures, the original intention of accommodating both under a single theory proved too complex. The paper, therefore, is confined to the visual arts. Nonetheless, English teachers who are familiar with the notion of the spectator role in reading in D. W. Harding's theoretical work, and writing in J. N. Britton's classroom studies will recognize the connections between reading, writing and viewing that are implied here. Other correspondences in contemporary literary and visual theory also are hinted at, not least in references to the work of Gombrich and Iser, and in the notion of "stance," which owes something to Rosenblatt, and with which the paper begins. Contains 21 references. (EH)