Image Writing and Pictorial Hieroglyphics: Theory and Practice of Artistic Creation in the Work of Claude-François Ménestrier (1631–1705)

Authors:

Pages: 98-107
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/QAHY7996

Abstract:

The French Jesuit brother Claude-François Ménestrier (1631–1705) can be described as an image writer, a.k.a. iconographer (from gr. εἰκών, ‘image,’ and γράφειν, ‘to write’). He received commissions for ephemeral decorations, fireworks and grand décor ceiling paintings by the Archbishop of Lyon, the King of France and the Duke of Savoy for almost 50 years. Despite its great success, this practice remained very unusual in the 17th century, for Ménestrier did not know how to draw. His “pictorial” inventions were entirely dependent on ekphrastic instructions, meaning that in order to take real shape, his imagination required the intervention of a draftsman, a “pictorial hand.” This article highlights two problems inherent to this collaborative practice. The first one concerns the artistic collaboration itself, which was extremely complicated to organize and handle. The second one is about the conceptual gap that separates Ménestrier from his collaborators. He has a personal image theory in which pictorial compositions are described as “talking images,” “pictorial texts,” or “hieroglyphs.” In other words, Ménestier’s images are designed as tools for visual communication that have very little to do with the actual painting technique and very much with linguistics and semiotics.

Keywords:

Grand Siècle French painting; grand décor; ephemeral decorations; artistic collaboration; image and symbol theory; Еgyptomania; early modern hieroglyphics.

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