ABSTRACT
At the end of Plato’s Symposium, Socrates forces the other participants to admit that the abilities necessary for a writer of tragedy and comedy are the same and that the true artist in tragedy is also an artist in comedy. This statement raises some interesting points. Humorous moments enlivening the sublime mode of tragic plays easily come to mind, but it is difficult to recall comedies that include tragic incidents. The history of drama shows that the authors often tend to specialize in only one of these literary genres. Pictorial art, however, provides instructive illustrations of Plato’s assertion, showing that, at least in some cases, the sublime and the comic modes were both practiced by the same artist. Even more thought-provoking is the fact that the two kinds of imagery actually share certain structural features, resulting in a remarkable affinity of their visual effect. 1
