ABSTRACT
Ekphrasisis, roughly defined, the representation in words of a pictorial representation, or, more precisely, the verbal account of a visual work. Passing on from what are by now classics to contemporary criticism, studies of Renaissance ekphrasis seem to stick to the analogical model of paragone, bypassing the callous question of the hegemony between the two 'sister arts'. Ekphrasis brings time to a halt, and – particularly in Shakespeare's theatre – arrests the Aristotlean movement of the story from beginning to end, to allow the spectator's/reader's moments of either contemplation of a character or exploration of the plot. Fuellen, in Henry V, offers his own (that is, Shakespeare's) description of Fortune's wheel, whose ups and downs affect all the characters in the play, in these emblematic terms: Fortune is painted blind, with a muffler afore her eyes, to signify that Fortune is blind.
