Theocritus and the Visual Arts

Résumé Fr

Even though Theocritus’ poetry is often associated by modern readers with visuality, there is only one full description of a work of art in the Idylls. This chapter argues that the visual quality of Theocritus’ poetry has several causes: 1) the presence of several brief mentions of works of art over the Theocritean corpus; 2) the clever use of techniques of enargeia and the way in which Theocritus signals his use of enargeia through allusions to Homeric passages that were themselves considered to have a visual quality; 3) the presence of hidden allusions to works of art that were part of the shared visual culture of Hellenistic times and would allow the reader to visualize at least some of the scenes. For instance, a number of the humble characters of Theocritus’ poetry have parallels in the visual arts (e. g., the pharmakeutriai or the fishermen) and some mythological scenes (the deaths of Hylas and Pentheus, the description of Amycus, the battle of the Dioscuri and the Apharetids) had precise parallels in the visual arts. At least some ancient readers of Theocritus appear to have shared our sensitivity to the visual quality (enargeia) of Theocritus’ poetry. This is the case of the anonymous author of Idyll 25, but also of the Elder Philostratus who tried to emulate Theocritean enargeia in Imagines 2.18. It is also possible to cite two cases in which the owner of a house or villa commissioned a painting or mosaic inspired by Theocritus’ poetry: this is the case in the “House of Propertius” in Assisi and in the possible remains of an imperial villa of Homs/Emesa. Further pictorial renditions of Theocritus’ poetry were invented over time, from Byzantine silverware to the nineteenth-century Barbizon school.