DOI Artikel:
Kern, Ulrike: Shaftesbury's Dictionary of Terms of Art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56525#0024
SHAFTESBURY’S DICTIONARY OF TERMS OF ART
23
ary. From the fragment we can infer that Shaftesbury might have had the intention to include the origin
and derivation of the artistic terms in his Dictionary, though he never proceed further than noting Pliny as
a source.25
FINDING WORDS
Besides Shaftesbury’s literary intentions, which are clearly recognisable in the fragment of the art diction-
ary, some problems can be identified at this early stage of the compilation. One of the problems that Shaftesbury
mentioned was to find word-by-word translations for the terms and concepts. Shaftesbury used Fréart’s Idée de
la perfection de la peinture as his model, but he had difficulties to restrict himself to one equivalent English word
that he could propose without any further explanation. In chapter 14 of the Plastics, for instance, he extends the
five parts of painting to sixteen.26 Shaftesbury used the five categories that he could find in Fréart’s account, but
already Junius included suggestions for synonyms and subcategories, so arriving at twelve terms:
Inventio sive Historia, Proportio sive Symmetria, Color, & in eo Lux & Umbra, Candor & Tenebrae, Motus & in eo
Actio & Passio, Collocatio denique sive Oeconomica totius operis disposition.
In the English translation:
Invention, or Historical! argument. Proportion, or Symmetrie. Colour, and therein Light and Shadow, as also
Brightnesse and Darknesse. Motion or Life, and therein Action and Passion. Disposition, or an Oeconomicall placing
and ordering of the whole worke.27
The stringent order found in Fréart and Junius were dissolved in the way in which Shaftesbury dealt with the
five parts of painting. He introduced each of the parts of paintings in a section, but the titles of these form a list of
synonyms rather than structuring the notion of the words and arranging them in subcategories. The first section
bears the title ‘Invention, Story, Imagery.’, followed by ‘Proportion, Drawing, Symmetry particular. ’, third comes
the section ‘Colouring. ’, as the fourth part ‘Sentiment, Movement, Passion, Soul.’, and eventually ‘System, Com-
position, Collocation, Position, Symmetry general’.28 We have seen that the five parts of painting seem to have been
categories for Shaftesbury rather than merely words, but in the list of words of the Dictionary his approach is not
very different. He joined terms in related groups such as adding ‘epic’ to ‘heroic’ or ‘poetic’ to ‘tragic’. Some terms
of the list are accompanied by notes of how to understand and use the word, as if Shaftesbury had been worried that
the terms of his art dictionary could be misunderstood or used in a context different of the meaning he intended. For
example, when he entered to the term ‘colourists’, and added ‘of the Venetian School for the best’, this is no infor-
mation that would necessarily be part of a dictionary, unless one would want to point to the traditional attributes of
colorito and disegno2^ The way Shaftesbury put it, however, feels judgemental.
Shaftesbury made notes about his intentions and thoughts with regard to the eventual features of the treat-
ise. He acknowledged that his consideration to include a vocabulary was inspired by Fréart’s Idée de la perfe-
cion de peinture. Shaftesbury might have mentioned this to demonstrate that he was familiar with contemporary
art literature. Yet he could not fully credit the French writer, since he had a rather ambiguous attitude against
him. He conceded that he may have used Fréart’s concept of adding a glossary, but that his work would be a new
vocabulary; and moreover, that he would avoid clinging to the same ill-mannered tendencies as the Frenchman:
Also a kind of prefatory dictionary of terms of art, or new coined (with apology), after the manner of Monsieur Fréart
de Chambray, but in the reverse of his insolent way.30
25 Paknadel, op. cit.,p. 80, points out Shaftesbury’s sophisticated style of writing in this context, giving references to his source literature.
26 Fréart, too ends up with more than ten: invention, or history; proportion, or symmetry; colour, and dispensation of the lights and
shades; motion, actions and passions; collocation, or the regular position of the figures of the whole work. See R. Fréart de Chambray, An
Idea of the Perfection of Painting, tr. J. Evelyn, London 1668, p. 10, and idem, Idée de la perfection de la peinture, Le Mans 1662, p. 10.
27 Junius, De pictura veterum..., p. 130; idem, The Painting of the Ancient, London 1638, pp. 221-222.
28 Shaftesbury/Rand, pp. 141-153.
29 Ibidem, pp. 179-180.
30 Ibidem, p. 7.
23
ary. From the fragment we can infer that Shaftesbury might have had the intention to include the origin
and derivation of the artistic terms in his Dictionary, though he never proceed further than noting Pliny as
a source.25
FINDING WORDS
Besides Shaftesbury’s literary intentions, which are clearly recognisable in the fragment of the art diction-
ary, some problems can be identified at this early stage of the compilation. One of the problems that Shaftesbury
mentioned was to find word-by-word translations for the terms and concepts. Shaftesbury used Fréart’s Idée de
la perfection de la peinture as his model, but he had difficulties to restrict himself to one equivalent English word
that he could propose without any further explanation. In chapter 14 of the Plastics, for instance, he extends the
five parts of painting to sixteen.26 Shaftesbury used the five categories that he could find in Fréart’s account, but
already Junius included suggestions for synonyms and subcategories, so arriving at twelve terms:
Inventio sive Historia, Proportio sive Symmetria, Color, & in eo Lux & Umbra, Candor & Tenebrae, Motus & in eo
Actio & Passio, Collocatio denique sive Oeconomica totius operis disposition.
In the English translation:
Invention, or Historical! argument. Proportion, or Symmetrie. Colour, and therein Light and Shadow, as also
Brightnesse and Darknesse. Motion or Life, and therein Action and Passion. Disposition, or an Oeconomicall placing
and ordering of the whole worke.27
The stringent order found in Fréart and Junius were dissolved in the way in which Shaftesbury dealt with the
five parts of painting. He introduced each of the parts of paintings in a section, but the titles of these form a list of
synonyms rather than structuring the notion of the words and arranging them in subcategories. The first section
bears the title ‘Invention, Story, Imagery.’, followed by ‘Proportion, Drawing, Symmetry particular. ’, third comes
the section ‘Colouring. ’, as the fourth part ‘Sentiment, Movement, Passion, Soul.’, and eventually ‘System, Com-
position, Collocation, Position, Symmetry general’.28 We have seen that the five parts of painting seem to have been
categories for Shaftesbury rather than merely words, but in the list of words of the Dictionary his approach is not
very different. He joined terms in related groups such as adding ‘epic’ to ‘heroic’ or ‘poetic’ to ‘tragic’. Some terms
of the list are accompanied by notes of how to understand and use the word, as if Shaftesbury had been worried that
the terms of his art dictionary could be misunderstood or used in a context different of the meaning he intended. For
example, when he entered to the term ‘colourists’, and added ‘of the Venetian School for the best’, this is no infor-
mation that would necessarily be part of a dictionary, unless one would want to point to the traditional attributes of
colorito and disegno2^ The way Shaftesbury put it, however, feels judgemental.
Shaftesbury made notes about his intentions and thoughts with regard to the eventual features of the treat-
ise. He acknowledged that his consideration to include a vocabulary was inspired by Fréart’s Idée de la perfe-
cion de peinture. Shaftesbury might have mentioned this to demonstrate that he was familiar with contemporary
art literature. Yet he could not fully credit the French writer, since he had a rather ambiguous attitude against
him. He conceded that he may have used Fréart’s concept of adding a glossary, but that his work would be a new
vocabulary; and moreover, that he would avoid clinging to the same ill-mannered tendencies as the Frenchman:
Also a kind of prefatory dictionary of terms of art, or new coined (with apology), after the manner of Monsieur Fréart
de Chambray, but in the reverse of his insolent way.30
25 Paknadel, op. cit.,p. 80, points out Shaftesbury’s sophisticated style of writing in this context, giving references to his source literature.
26 Fréart, too ends up with more than ten: invention, or history; proportion, or symmetry; colour, and dispensation of the lights and
shades; motion, actions and passions; collocation, or the regular position of the figures of the whole work. See R. Fréart de Chambray, An
Idea of the Perfection of Painting, tr. J. Evelyn, London 1668, p. 10, and idem, Idée de la perfection de la peinture, Le Mans 1662, p. 10.
27 Junius, De pictura veterum..., p. 130; idem, The Painting of the Ancient, London 1638, pp. 221-222.
28 Shaftesbury/Rand, pp. 141-153.
29 Ibidem, pp. 179-180.
30 Ibidem, p. 7.