Nello specchio della traduzione: l’ecfrasi longhiana alla prova della lingua francese

Abstract

Many contributions have already underlined the richness and complexity of Roberto Longhi’s language and the literary dimension typical of his writings, in which the author stands out for having continuously experimented with the challenge of intersemiotic translation. However, the attention given to this peculiarity has not so far led to any study on the problem of the translation of these texts. The purpose of this essay is to investigate this issue, namely to give consideration to Roberto Longhi’s reception in France, by focusing on two of the first translations of his texts into french: his famous Piero della Francesca, immediately translated by Jean Chuzeville in 1927, with the assistance of Giuseppe Ungaretti, and the paradigmatic case of Proposte per una critica d’arte translated by André Chastel and published in 1960. The results of a close reading combined with the analysis of the editorial context therefore highlight not only the linguistic and terminological difficulties encountered by the translators, but also the essential role of translation in the methodological reflections during this particularly important period in the international evolution of art history as a discipline.