DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9177#0317
CHAPTER XVIII
the art history of a myth : the judgment of paris
The relations between art-representation, on one side, and
literature, on the other, might best be illustrated by placing side
by side the literary and the artistic treatment of a myth in
successive periods. Unfortunately, there is no myth which
lends itself quite satisfactorily to such treatment. The favourite
themes of vases are taken from the tales embodied in the cyclic
poets. Subjects are seldom taken from the tales of the Iliad
and Odyssey; nor do the fortunes of the houses of Oedipus and
Atreus, which furnish much of the material of the Tragic Poets,
meet with satisfactory treatment on vases. This being the
case, it is better to take for our theme a subject fully dealt with
in all the periods of art, but not of great literary importance,
rather than a theme familiar to the poets, but only rarely ap-
pearing in Greek painting.
On the whole the best subject which can be chosen is that of
the Judgment of Paris, which fulfils the conditions just named.
The abundance of representations on vases is great; and their
investigation will make clear the necessity of comparing one
with another, and explaining one by another, taking them in
groups rather than one by one. We shall find that they will
resolve themselves into an orderly series, running parallel to
the literary and artistic history of Greece. And we shall find
that, when any representation differs from the general run, the
reason far more often lies in artistic purpose than in any in-
fluence exercised by literature.
I propose to set forth period by period the literary and the
archaeological data in regard to the myth.
297
the art history of a myth : the judgment of paris
The relations between art-representation, on one side, and
literature, on the other, might best be illustrated by placing side
by side the literary and the artistic treatment of a myth in
successive periods. Unfortunately, there is no myth which
lends itself quite satisfactorily to such treatment. The favourite
themes of vases are taken from the tales embodied in the cyclic
poets. Subjects are seldom taken from the tales of the Iliad
and Odyssey; nor do the fortunes of the houses of Oedipus and
Atreus, which furnish much of the material of the Tragic Poets,
meet with satisfactory treatment on vases. This being the
case, it is better to take for our theme a subject fully dealt with
in all the periods of art, but not of great literary importance,
rather than a theme familiar to the poets, but only rarely ap-
pearing in Greek painting.
On the whole the best subject which can be chosen is that of
the Judgment of Paris, which fulfils the conditions just named.
The abundance of representations on vases is great; and their
investigation will make clear the necessity of comparing one
with another, and explaining one by another, taking them in
groups rather than one by one. We shall find that they will
resolve themselves into an orderly series, running parallel to
the literary and artistic history of Greece. And we shall find
that, when any representation differs from the general run, the
reason far more often lies in artistic purpose than in any in-
fluence exercised by literature.
I propose to set forth period by period the literary and the
archaeological data in regard to the myth.
297