Painting, interpretation, education: Tables of knowledge in the imagines of Philostratus the Athenian

Abstract

This article shows how the descriptions of paintings (Imagines) by the ancient Greek author Philostratus (third century AD) can be viewed as pedagogical tools in the introduction to higher education. Philostratus presented his descriptions in the context of a tour in a picture gallery for young students. In the study presented here, the pedagogical context is taken seriously. With the means of three examples, the study shows how Philostratus uses his descriptions to guide his students into the interpretation of paintings, agriculture, and astronomy. Rather than simply present exemplary rhetorical descriptions of paintings as one would expect a rhetorical teacher to do, Philostratus uses paintings as pedagogical working tables where students can view simplified versions of complex fields of knowledge, an approach that is not unlike the visual presentation of introductory knowledge on old-fashioned cardboard wallcharts in modern schools.