The Parallel Worlds of Classical Art and Text

The Parallel Worlds of Classical Art and Text considers the relationship between artists and texts throughout classical antiquity. Systematically applying new and objective criteria judging the fidelity between picture and text, she argues artists illustrated stories, not texts, and that artistic transmissions follow the model of oral, not textual, transmission.

The Parallel Worlds of Classical Art and Text is the first study to consider the relationship between artists and texts throughout classical antiquity and to cover the entire range of illustrated text from traditional literary to technical works. By systematically applying new and objective criteria to judge the fidelity between picture and text, it is becomes clear that artists illustrate stories, not texts. Jocelyn Penny Small argues that artistic transmissions follow the model of oral, not textual, transmission where the variant rules and where there is no original. Pictures on vases, she demonstrates, should not be used to reconstruct lost literary works. Finally, Small offers an analysis of literary sources on pictures in texts, proving that the appearance of the first illustrated literary classical texts occurred at the end of the Late Roman Republic.