The Made Image

Shields, temple pictures, and the art that teaches a viewer

A poem can make a crafted image open onto an entire world. Achilles' shield holds the heavens; Aeneas finds both remembered suffering and a future people in art. Dante's carved Annunciation makes that power of showing serve the education of humility.

1. Iliad 18.478–489
2. Aeneid 1.453–465
3. Aeneid 8.626–634
4. Purgatorio 10.34–45