What do we mean when we call someone an ‘artist’? There’s something about the word that eludes definition. For besides the skills of a craftsman (faber, in Latin), the artist is supposed to possess a certain indefinable, privileged insight or inspiration that makes him a visionary (vates), a mediator between day-to-day reality and something that transcends it. This highly prestigious image of the artist established itself in the Renaissance and was modelled on the renown and status of artists in Antiquity. However, historical sources make clear that although the products of visual arts held a very important place in Greek and Roman culture, their makers were initially all but highly esteemed. Sculptors and painters were thought of as not much more than menial labourers.
In this article, the roots of the image of the artist as vates are traced back to another classical model: that of the divinely inspired poet. It was only when visual arts and literature were merged into one category that the artist could lay claim to a similar status. This link, however, had slumbered in the traditional lore about mythical artists for ages. This paper will inquire further into this historical and mythological material to semantically situate the concept of the inspired artist, and to attempt to describe its role and importance until this day
