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<i>The Elements of Life: Biography and Portrait-Painting in Stuart and Georgian England</i>, and: <i>A Bloomsbury Iconography</i> (review)

1991; University of Hawaii Press; Volume: 14; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/bio.2010.0345

1529-1456

Donald J. Winslow,

Historical Art and Culture Studies

REVIEWS 171 Indexes. Billows' immersion in the literary and epigraphic sources is everywhere evident , as is his thoughtful and critical use of them. Notably effective bits of source-criticism are those on, e.g., Antigonos' responsibility for the death of Eumenes of Kardia (p. 104 n. 29), Plutarch on Antigonos' proclamation of kingship (p. 157 n. 42), Diodoros on late-fourth-century Rhodes (pp. 165-6 n. 5), implications of the inscription IG xii Supp. 168 (pp. 223-4 and n. 98), Diodoros on Antigonos' arrogance and ambition (pp. 319-20), and tendencies to hold Diodoros to standards to which even modern scholars are not held (p. 343 and n. 32). He also effectively uses autopsy in an epigraphical argument (p. 422). Any reviewer can, of course, find a few nits to pick. I believe that the discussion on "Common Peaces and Autonomy in the Fourth Century B.C." (pp. 190-7) is a bit too generous to Philip II and too harsh on Athens, and I see no real value in its excessively fine distinction between Philip's "common peace" and a "symmachy" (see especially p. 192 n. 7). I also object to the casual translation of "tribute" for a word (chremata) meaning simply and neutrally "money" in the Attic inscription IG ii21492b (twice: p. 223 n. 96 and p. 365). Fourth century Athenian official language avoided the word "tribute" in much the same way that politicians of the Roman Republic avoided the word "king." A couple of Britishisms are inappropriate in a California-published book, e.g., "despatched" ("e" for "i", p. 87) and "corn" for "grain" (p. 287, using on the same page the other word). Without particularly searching for them, I also encountered a few simple misprints: "alloted" (p. 42 middle), "further" where "farther " is appropriate (p. 48 top), the question mark omitted from my own book's title (p. 191 n. 5), "destory" (p. 226 middle), and "dicussed" (p. 339 middle). Jack Cargill Rutgers University Richard Wendorf, TL· Elements of Life: Biography and Portrait-Painting in Stuart and Georgian England. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990. 308 pp. $59.00. Elizabeth P. Richardson, A Bloomsbury Iconography. Winchester, Hampshire, U.K.: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1989, 372 pp. $84.00. (Distributed in U.S.A. by Omnigraphics, Inc., 2400 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit, MI48226.) During the second half of the twentieth century there has been a flood of books and articles on the literary genre biography. Theories of life-writing, along with analyses of individual biographies and autobiographies have been appearing in learned journals and in books published by university presses. But relatively little has been published on the relationship between life-writing and the visual portrayal of individuals. Richard Wendorf, Director of the Houghton Library at Harvard University, has made a major contribution to this undeveloped field of study, for his book introduces new concepts and makes analytical comparisons between visual and verbal portraits never before undertaken. WendorPs impeccable scholarship is based on a thorough knowledge of earlier works on interdisciplinary studies by such writers as Jean Hagstrum, Ronald Paulson, and David Piper, and of scholars in the fields of biography and of portrait-painting, such as William Epstein and Roy Strong. His list, at the beginning of The Elements of Life, of about sixty abbreviated titles of books frequently referred to in his text, indicates the wealth of scholarship upon which he draws. 172 biography Vol. 14, No. 2 Definition of terms requires a precision that is necessary for control of what can become a very slippery business when dealing with two different art forms at the same time. In his first chapter, "Representing Historical Character," Wendorf is specific and detailed on the "inter-artistic relations" he is "to explore." He lists ten of these, among which he includes both theoretical parallels and particular comparisons of the same subject, of corresponding statements by biographer and portrait-painter, of stylistic changes and developments, of spatial form in narrative and time in pictorial images. Perhaps most noteworthy is item number six: "Iconicism, which I define as the incorporation of images or other pictorial motifs in biographical works, or of verbal or literary motifs in visual portraits." WendorPs exploration of...