‘The chicken or the egg?’ Exploring the dynamics of an ekphrastic cycle

Abstract

This article explores some of the dynamics related to ekphrasis between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, focusing particularly on the often problematic, but always fruitful, interplay between the object and its description. My interest lies, more specifically, in what has often been called ‘reverse ekphrasis’, that is, the process through which the figurative arts engage in producing an equivalent of the verbal text, instead of the other way around. The analysis is structured around a series of case studies related to King Solomon and to the rich artistic patronage attributed to him by the Bible—a patronage that not only was exploited for centuries to create a powerful imagery around kingship, but also had a fruitful effect on the creation of artefacts.