Quintilian and Visual Art

While the best- known treatment of the visual arts in the Institutio comes in Quintilian’s catalogue  of  artists  (12.10),  we  find  mention  not  only  of  the  so-  called  major  arts  of  painting  and  sculpture,  but  the  small-  scale  ‘minor’  arts  throughout  the  work.  While  these references do not suggest a marked interest in art objects once completed, they highlight  Quintilian’s  appreciation  of  the  artistic  process,  a  combination  of  practised  technique and natural talent that parallels his own conception of an oratorical educa-tion. In fact, it is to the visual arts that Quintilian turns when meeting one of the funda-mental challenges of his great opus: how to define the nature and scope of rhetoric. [Opening paragraph]