Artibus et Historiae no. 27 (XIV)
1993, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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LIVIO PESTILLI - Ut pictura non poesis: Lord Shaftesbury
A comparison of the two versions of Diana and Actaeon by Paolo de Matteis
illustrates how in the second version the painter abandoned his "poetic"
interpretation of the myth for a "dramatic" one in conformity with Lord
Shaftesbury's theoretical views.
Shaftesbury believed that the history painter should follow a "rule of
consistency" precluding the temporal metalepsis exhibited, for example, in the
many paintings of the Diana and Actaeon story showing the latter's "horns
already sprouted" even before "the goddess ... has thrown her cast."
The article provides external evidence for dating the paintings, and shows
that, in attempting to adapt literary theory to painting, Shaftesbury failed to
heed his own advice knowing, as one learns from his notes, that ut pictura non
poesis.
