Artists throughout the ages have been inspired by works of literature to represent visually what they draw from a particular text. In this essay I will examine source material from different artistic periods in order to demonstrate the catalytic relationship literature has with art. Many artists have been influenced by literary texts, where the text has inspired in their imagination a particular scene which they subsequently bring to life through visual media. This relationship between literature and art is what I will explore in the essay, hoping to obtain a rounded understanding of the different methods artists use to interpret major works of literature.

Sometimes a work of literature is so dominant in a given society that it becomes a recognised framework within which visual artists can operate. One such example would be the black figure vase by Exekias depicting ‘Ajax and Achilles playing draughts’ from around 540BC. These two are characters from Homer’s ‘Iliad’, often named the first work of western literature. The cultural significance of the Homeric epics at the time was such that Homer was known simply as ‘Th

While the monolithic, ancient works of the bible and ‘The Iliad’ served as inspiration for these artists, literary source material took a much more secular bent as time went on. An example is Shakespeare whose influence on visual art can be seen in Millais’ painting ‘Ophelia’ (1851-2) . Here the artist draws on the tragic element of Shakespeare’s creation to heighten the sense of tragedy in his own work. The painting depicts a scene which was not actually included in the play, so in effect Millais was taking a tragic element from the piece and exaggerating it to make it a visual reality. He was adding his own creative input, inspired by a work of literature, using his imagination to portray a visual representation of the death of a literary symbol, which is alluded to in the text but left to the imagination of the audience, and the artist it seems. Millais appears to have referred to Shakespeare’s description of the place where Ophelia died, to reproduce the beauty of this peculiar resting place. Shakespeare writes, ‘a willow grows askant the brook’ , Millais interprets this in his piece by having a willow draping like a funeral arch across the watery grave Ophelia lies in. He picks up on the ghostly imagery Shakespeare suggests, ‘Her clothes spread wide/ and mermaid-like awhile they bore her up’ , by showing Ophelia’s white dress pulling her to the surface of the water creating a poignant and ethereal scene.

One aspect of art inspired by the bible is that it concerns itself with moral messages, indeed this could be seen as one of the bible’s principle attractions as a source material. An artist who tackled moral issues through both art and poetry is William Blake. He occupies a unique role within the brief of this essay in that he writes the literature which inspires his art work. His principle concern is illustrating the poetry he writes, thus making it more accessible to those who cannot read. His artwork serves an illustrative purpose because it helps to educate from a Christian moral perspective the illiterate and literate of all ages and classes. This is exemplified by the etching, ‘Spring’ in which Blake depicts a typical springtime scene showing lambs (also a religious symbol) and a sunrise, perhaps symbolisi

Some topics in this essay:
Jesus Christ, , Da Vinci’s, William Blake, Da Vinci, Exekias Achilles, Emil Nolde’s, I”’ Hence, visual art, literature art, visual representation, “little boy”, da vinci’s, source material, artists throughout ages, relationship literature, literary texts, artistic periods, inspiration artists, relationship literature art,