KÉPELMÉLETI KÉRDÉSEK ZRÍNYI MIKLÓS SYRENA-KÖTETÉBEN
PICTURE THEORETIC QUESTIONS IN MIKLÓSZRINYI’S SIREN-VOLUME

Summary/Abstract: The title of Miklós Zrínyi’s Adriai tengrnek Syrenaia (The Siren of the Adriatic Sea), appeared in 1651 in Vienna can be interpreted as a homage to Giambattista Marino. Marino' poetry was the main imitation pattern for the author of Siren-volume. The ut pictura poesis theory plays a major role in Marino's literary works. In his treatise Diceria sacre, appeared in 1614 Marino developes even an original picture theory.We cannot proof the knowledge of Marino's picture theorical ideas in Zrínyi's works. Beside several volumes of Giambattista Marino's poetry, only the La Galeria could be found in Zrínyi's library. In the poems of Siren-volume there is no sign of ut pictura poesis theory. By ordering a title page to his volume, looks as if MiklósZrínyi would reverse Marino’s imitative base proceeding: instead of depicting paintings in the medium of the language, he displays his epic on the title page with the help of the picture’s medium. On the print the author, the steel-cladded knight, the wheelsman of a shell-like boat sticks his eyes to a point not depicted on the picture. The print evokes initial reflection of the epic’s fourteenth song that describes the narration of the epic with the metaphors of shipping. Two sirens are swimming beside his ship, one of them is hanging on to the edge of the boat, making an offer to the wheelsman with a shell, symbol of sexual act and sexuality, the other mermaid combs her hair while she is looking at herself in a mirror. According to the author of the paper the allegorical figures on the print do not depict sins and virtues: the knight on the picture signifies the heroic poem, the siren with the shell means the erotic poems of the volume, while the siren with the mirror can be interpreted as an allegory of the entire poetic discours of the volume.

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