English art in the years after the Reformation has often been seen as mediocre, strange or even non-existent. Yet, like many Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, Shakespeare frequently compares himself to a painter. If English art was so bad, what did he mean by comparing his writing to painting? At a time when images or ‘idols’ could pose a danger to the soul, was there anything to be lost, as well as gained, from such a comparison? And what kind of paintings would Shakespeare have seen, anyway? In this course we will uncover the reality of the ‘Jacobethan’ visual experience, exploring the ways in which poetry interacted with the huge range of artworks that adorned homes, palaces and public spaces.
Portraits, portrait miniatures, tapestries, printed images and emblems: all can be found described in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. How might visual and material culture have influenced, and in turn been influenced by, the written word? Writers such as Sir Philip Sidney thought poets and painters shared common ground in the realm of ‘mimesis’: the accurate representation of people, places and events. Yet painting, like poetry, also had the power to move the beholder: a power enhanced by its ability to appeal to the senses. How did poets and painters seek to imitate each other’s techniques? And how did Elizabethan ideas about the structure of the mind enable painting and poetry to affect the passions?
In this course we will draw on a range of social, cultural and historical contexts to explore the relationship between poetry and painting. We will discover the range of visual and material objects on which Shakespeare and his contemporaries could draw for inspiration, and ask what poets were really thinking about when they compared themselves to painters.
Learning outcomes
- To gain a greater knowledge of the art of Shakespeare’s time;
- To evaluate the relationship between poetry and painting;
- To understand the cultural, social and political influences at work in the arts.
