Dedicated item about the artwork

I've read the table for "digital surrogates" in Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Visual artworks#How to model structured data and Wikitext to describe Commons files and I'm a bit confused.

It's not clear to me what I should do when I have a digital surrogate like this: File:Ottavio Leoni, Gabriello Chiabrera, 1625, NGA 159736.jpg.

I'm inclined to set something like this:

1. depicts: the object (portrait of Gabriello Chiabrera (Q76561269))
2. digital representation of: the object (portrait of Gabriello Chiabrera (Q76561269))
3. main subject: the subject (Gabriello Chiabrera (Q2344301))

Is this wrong? Thanks for sharing an example bozz (talk) 10:37, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Well, I'm inclined to set "depicts" to both values: the object (Q76561269), and the subject (Q2344301). Since the object is not subclass of the subject. But thanks for clarifications.. bozz (talk) 11:18, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Main subject of the Commons file should also be the artwork, and then the person is main subject of the artwork's Wikidata item. Don't repeat adding the person to Commons as that creates data duplication and the increased risk of data getting out of sync. I updated the work's Wikidata item a bit. Spinster (talk) 12:42, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks. Any idea about how to clarify this from the page Commons:Structured data/Modeling/Visual artworks? bozz (talk) 12:46, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

And there are probably 10,000s of examples on Commons. I just randomly looked for a portrait painting from the Rijksmuseum, which is well modeled: Spinster (talk) 12:46, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

my related question is: how can we distinct (from sdc) weather the file actually is the artwork (as the linked upon example) or "just" a picture of it? GioviPen ^{GP msg} 12:52, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

I am not sure if I understand your question? The file is not the artwork in any of the linked examples. The artwork is a physical sculpture, or a physical painting, or a print in a museum collection. The file is a representation of that artwork. Spinster (talk) 22:32, 7 January 2026 (UTC)