The Influence of Daphnis and Chloe’s Translation of 1718 on 18th Century Art: The Impact of an Artist’s Subject Matter
Throughout history, there has always been a consistent interest in Classical arts and literature and from this intellects in all subjects have based their life works. In perspective to this, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe from the Second Sophistic (2nd/3rd Century AD) has played a role in guiding itself to become not only a novel but also artworks from paintings to plays (Morrison, 50-76). However, the novel needed multiple translations to become available to a wider range of audience members throughout the last two-thousand years to evolve as we know it in the present day. The first major translation from Greek to French was by Jacques Amyot in 1559 and is the most prominently referenced conversion (McCail, xxviii). There was a translation in 1538 to …show more content…
The first English version was by George Thornley in 1657, yet this is not the most notable nor the focus of this paper. This edition would be James Craggs the Younger’s 1718 translation Les Amours Pastorales de Daphnis et Chloé, with illustration by Regent Phillippe Prince of d’Orleans, later engraved by artist Audran for final publication (Bernard, 365). The reasoning for this publication to be significant is due to the fact the first contributing artist Regent d’Orleans was the Great Grandson to Louis XIII and therefore a relative of Louis XIV and Louis XV (Raucous Royals). The family of this monarchy became a notorious influence of the art world, specifically Louis XV and the Rococo movement (Decorator and Furnisher, 175). While the development of the Rococo was beginning, Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour discovered the artist Francois Boucher (Adams, Forward). Boucher was commissioned by Madame de Pompadour various times especially for her portraits, advancing Boucher to the role
Throughout history, there has always been a consistent interest in Classical arts and literature and from this intellects in all subjects have based their life works. In perspective to this, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe from the Second Sophistic (2nd/3rd Century AD) has played a role in guiding itself to become not only a novel but also artworks from paintings to plays (Morrison, 50-76). However, the novel needed multiple translations to become available to a wider range of audience members throughout the last two-thousand years to evolve as we know it in the present day. The first major translation from Greek to French was by Jacques Amyot in 1559 and is the most prominently referenced conversion (McCail, xxviii). There was a translation in 1538 to …show more content…
The first English version was by George Thornley in 1657, yet this is not the most notable nor the focus of this paper. This edition would be James Craggs the Younger’s 1718 translation Les Amours Pastorales de Daphnis et Chloé, with illustration by Regent Phillippe Prince of d’Orleans, later engraved by artist Audran for final publication (Bernard, 365). The reasoning for this publication to be significant is due to the fact the first contributing artist Regent d’Orleans was the Great Grandson to Louis XIII and therefore a relative of Louis XIV and Louis XV (Raucous Royals). The family of this monarchy became a notorious influence of the art world, specifically Louis XV and the Rococo movement (Decorator and Furnisher, 175). While the development of the Rococo was beginning, Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour discovered the artist Francois Boucher (Adams, Forward). Boucher was commissioned by Madame de Pompadour various times especially for her portraits, advancing Boucher to the role