 |
 |
Jim Bugslag wrote: >Undoubtedly owls had a meaning, however esoteric, in Bosch`s works, but that is not necessarily true of musical owls decorating an English country house, which were the subject of the original enquiry. Mmmmm. So they were "just" decoration, eh? A mind-boggling concept. Seems to me that Graham's arguments have a good bit going for them (except perhaps for blaming the poor King and his flakie wife-of-the-moment for the family's poverty); and even cartoons & comics, those lucid windows on the soul of popular culture, are saturated with "symbolism" (an academic construct, after all) and myrid, often quite subtle and complex references to contemporary folk custom, life lore (otherwise they wouldn't "work"). just browse through a book of 50 year-old cartoons and see how many references are totally incomprehensible without "research" (or a first-hand memory). and all the more so with, say, English/American political cartoons of the 18th c. Graham Williamson-Mallaghan wrote: >Maybe the Owls in the freeze at The Vyne are just whimsies, as Walpole thought, but the freeze is filled with green men and other creatures of heraldic and Christian signficance, so I like to think they have some more profound significance, and the family who dwelt at The Vyne were known neither for their levity, or for their immense wealth. I don't think the Sandys could have afforded whimsical carvings, not with having to put up Henry VIII and his wives on a not infrequent basis! Perhaps the carver has a sense of humour, however! Where does this "whimsie" come from, after all? Best from here, Christopher ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%