Enfilade

Originals, Translations, and Imitations:
The Images and Texts of Alexander Pope
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, 12 July 2014

A one-day conference organized by Waddesdon Manor (the Rothschild Foundation) in collaboration with The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

This conference will explore some central themes running through the exhibition, Fame and Friendship: Pope, Roubiliac, and the Portrait Bust in Eighteenth-Century Britain, organised jointly by the Rothschild Foundation and Waddesdon Manor with the Yale Center for British Art. At the heart of the exhibition are eight portrait busts of the poet Alexander Pope by Roubiliac along with various replications of this model. These images imitate classical portrait busts, translating the conventions of the originals into an eighteenth-century mode. At the same time, the replications translate Roubiliac’s original into other media, such as plaster or ceramic. At Waddesdon these various images will not only shown not only alongside both some of the most celebrated painted portraits of the poet and examples of his printed texts, but also juxtaposed with French works celebrating Pope and other writers. These various processes of imitation and translation could hardly be more appropriate for a subject whose contemporary fame rested partly on his own translations of Homer and whose poetry constantly imitated classical models. In its turn, Pope’s work was itself translated into French. All the papers in this conference will address different aspects of imitation and translation, in the form of both images and texts. The fee for the day is £40. To book a place, please ring the booking line on 01296 653226. Please let us know of any dietary requirements.

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P R O G R A M M E

9:45  Coffee and registration in the Manor Restaurant with the exhibition open for viewing

10.30  Welcome by Sarah Weir (Chief Executive, Waddesdon Manor)

 10:45  Text, Image, and Translation (Chair: Alastair Laing)
• Nigel Wood (Loughborough University), Pope as the Translator of Homer and Horace
• James McLaverty (Keele University), Pope in his Pastorals: Manuscript and Print
• Valerie Rumbold (Birmingham University), The Use of Art in Alexander Pope’s “To Mr. Addison, Occasioned by Dialogues on Medals”

12:45  Lunch

1:50 Pope and the Image (Chair: Martin Postle)
• Caroline Pegum (Independent Scholar), Charles Jervas and Pope’s Portraits
• Malcolm Baker (University of California, Riverside), For Friends and Admirers: The Sculptural Replication of Pope’s Image
• Juliet Carey (Waddesdon Manor), Pope and the Ceramic Canon

3.50  Tea

4:20  Pope, Writers, and France (Chair: Malcolm Baker)
• Russell Goulbourne (Kings College, London), Voltaire’s Pope
• Guilhem Scherf (Musée du Louvre), French Sculptors and the Image of the Writer

5:45  Drinks reception (Parterre or Manor Restaurant, depending on weather) during which the exhibition will again be open for viewing.