Ekphrasis, which comes from the Greek words for "out" and "speech," is a method used to describe a piece of art, whether real or imagined. Since ancient times, ekphrasis has been used in poetry and also appears in many other types of writing. It helps create strong feelings in readers by using vivid language and clear details to form mental pictures. Today, ekphrastic writing is important in art history studies, helping scholars learn more about art.

History

Ekphrasis was a storytelling method used in ancient times, where writers described artworks and objects in great detail so that people could imagine them in their minds. During the 18th and 19th centuries, photography and other ways to copy artworks were rare or not available, so written descriptions of artworks became very important. Instead of describing imaginary art for stories, ekphrasis helped readers experience the visual details of artworks through writing. This need for descriptions also made art criticism more popular. Today, art critics and scholars still use detailed descriptions in their work, and sometimes use ekphrasis as a method. Later, ekphrasis became a creative tool in literature, where writers use techniques like describing artworks as if they have human qualities to create artistic effects.

A well-known example of ekphrasis comes from Homer’s Iliad (Book 18), where the speaker describes the Shield of Achilles. Other examples include Virgil’s Aeneid, which describes the doors of Juno’s temple in Carthage, and Catullus’s poem 64, which includes a long description of an imaginary coverlet showing the story of Ariadne.

Ekphrastic poetry became popular in the West during the Romantic era and again with pre-Raphaelite poets. John Keats’s poem Ode on a Grecian Urn is another famous example of ekphrasis. In the poem, the speaker reflects on an ancient pottery piece, likely an amphora, and the story shown on it. Felicia Hemans and Letitia Elizabeth Landon often used ekphrasis, especially in works like Poetical Sketches of Modern Pictures. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s "double-works" combined visual and literary art to enhance both. Rossetti also described paintings by other artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks.

Other examples from the 19th century include Michael Field’s 1892 collection Sight and Song, which contains only ekphrastic poetry; Algernon Charles Swinburne’s poem Before the Mirror, which describes James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s painting Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl; and Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess, which includes the duke’s description of a portrait.

In the 20th century, examples include Rainer Maria Rilke’s Archaic Torso of Apollo and W. H. Auden’s The Shield of Achilles (1952), which revisits the story from Homer’s Iliad in a humorous way. Auden’s earlier poem Musée des Beaux Arts describes a real painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, which was once thought to be by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. This painting is also described in William Carlos Williams’s poem Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Poets today still use ekphrasis in their writing.

Examples

In Homer's work, the shield of Achilles is an example of ekphrastic poetry, which is descriptive poetry that paints a picture of past and future events. The shield shows images that represent the universe and the unavoidable fate of the city of Troy. The shield of Achilles includes nine scenes:

From lines 609–614, the belt of Herakles is described as having "marvelous works," such as animals with sharp eyes and pigs in a forest. It also includes images of battles and acts of murder. In the Odyssey, there is a scene where Odysseus, pretending to be a beggar, must prove to his wife, Penelope, that he is still alive. She asks him about the clothes Odysseus wore during the time the beggar claims he hosted him. Homer uses this moment to describe the golden brooch of Odysseus, which shows a dog strangling a young deer it caught.

The Cloak of Jason is another example of ekphrastic poetry. In the Argonautica, Jason's cloak has seven events stitched into it:

In Virgil's Aeneid, the mother of Aeneas convinces her husband to make armor for her son. The shield of Aeneas is described in book eight, from lines 629–719. Several important moments in Roman history are shown on the shield:

Scholars debate why Virgil included some events but not others, such as Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul. Virgil arranged the shield's scenes in order, but experts believe the events reflect Roman values important to the people and the Emperor. These values may include virtue, mercy, justice, and piety, which were written on a shield given to Augustus by the Senate.

Earlier in the Aeneid, when Aeneas visits Carthage, he sees a temple with artwork described using the ekphrastic style. These artworks show multiple events, including eight scenes from the Trojan War:

Another important example of ekphrasis in the Aeneid appears on the baldric of Pallas (Aeneid X.495–505). The baldric is decorated with the story of the Danaïds killing their cousins, the sons of Aegyptus, a tale dramatized by Aeschylus. Pallas is killed by the warrior Turnus, who takes the baldric. At the end of the poem, when Aeneas is about to spare Turnus's life, seeing the baldric makes him change his mind. Scholars disagree about the meaning of this scene.

There are several examples of ekphrasis in the Metamorphoses. In one, Phaeton visits the temple of the sun to meet his father, Phoebus. When Phaeton looks at the temple, he sees carvings that show:

In Scholarship

In the 19th century, as art history became a popular subject in schools, the practice of ekphrasis—describing art in detail—was seen as an important part of studying art. At the same time, art critics like John Ruskin wrote many detailed descriptions of artworks that were valuable for both literature and art history. Today, ekphrasis is viewed as a useful tool in writing and studying art history. Erwin Panofsky discussed the challenge of describing art and its sensory features, such as how it looks or feels, in his well-known essay "On the Relationship of Art History and Art Theory: Towards the Possibility of a Fundamental System of Concepts for a Science of Art." Art historian TJ Clark used a different method to describe artworks in his book The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing (2008), writing in a style similar to a diary. In media studies, WJT Mitchell explained that ekphrasis can be used as a way to express ideas and art, showing how power and politics influence society.