Ekphrastic discource in the novel “To the Hermitage” by M.Bradbury

The article is devoted to the ekphrastic discourse in the novel of the English writer Malcolm Bradbury “To the Hermitage”. The difference between real and imagined statues and pictures is being blurred due to subtle interweaving of past and future, real and dream, the points of view of the narrator, storyteller and characters. Sculptural and pictural works feature not only the characters depicted in them, but also reveal diversified relations between epochs, countries and historical figures. The themes of life, death and immortality are ironically made play in the destiny of monumental pieces of art, allegorical tombstones, gesso busts and ceremonial portraits.