Parrhasios and the Stage Curtain: Theatre, Metapainting and the Idea of Representation in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

In classical discussion the curtain serves to indicate illusionism in both the theatre and painting. This reciprocity gives rise to numerous historical exchanges. In the theatre the painted curtain is used to delay the beginning of the spectacle, while paintings make a remarkable use of the curtain as a trompe-l’oeil, interposed between the spectator and the representation. The curtain migrates from theatre to painting, but also from political spaces (imperial ceremonies, royal entries) to sacred spaces (liturgy, religious theatre), and from public spaces (the theatre, the church, the street) to private rooms (private devotions, art collections). The development is one of the individualization and secularization of representation, in which the curtain’s unveiling no longer results in transcendence, but dissolves in the intimate pleasure of the viewer.