Search results for ""Author Margaretha Rossholm Lagerlöf""

Analysing the decorative programmes of the most opulent European palaces of the time, Margaretha Rossholm Lagerlöf investigates how meaning was conveyed through display and visual effects. She explores the visual meaning inherent in the scheme of spatial relations; in effects of scale, perspective, lighting, figures' positions and postures; and in relations among image types. The analysis concerns the interrelations of various kinds of images in the ensembles; the relations between images and physical site; and the address to the beholder. Lagerlöf considers the visual impact of the imagery in conjunction with 'readable' or symbolically 'coded' meanings; thus, the study does not merely subject these decorations to formalist aesthetic principles. She shows the visual meaning generally to sustain the verbal or readable messages, but often in subtle ways, extending or elaborating the meaning. Occasionally, the visual meaning comes forth as an undercurrent or complication, deviating from the proclaimed and symbolic meaning. Fate, Glory, and Love in Early Modern Gallery Decoration contributes to the body of scholarship on visual rhetoric and on how images 'act' out their messages.

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This generously illustrated book provides a complete overview of current knowledge about the sculptures of the Parthenon and suggests new interpretations of the ancient temple's sculptural creations. Margaretha Lagerlöf steps back from viewing the fragments of the sculptures that remain today to focus more clearly on their meanings in the light of classical Athenian knowledge and society. She considers what the sculptures reveal about the Greek sense of democracy and how they characterize women's lives in a warrior culture. Using Plato's philosophy and the visually oriented similes of his myths, Lagerlöf offers a new decoding of the aesthetic structure of the Parthenon's entire sculptural ensemble. The book compares the sculptures of the pediments to those of the metopes and the frieze, uncovering subtle differences in both the nature and the content of their images. Whereas the pediments represent divine elements, for example, the frieze is seen as the domain of human beings, representing events and also the stage of history when humans no longer have direct access to the presence of the gods. The frieze can be interpreted as an invocation of this presence, a means of regaining closeness with the gods. Using a multifaceted and imaginative approach to the sculptures of the Parthenon, Lagerlöf finds powerful new meaning in them as well as an enhanced appreciation of their Athenian creators.

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