Rhetorica imaginis argutae: Om bild och ord i en svensk 1700-talsdissertation

Författare

Alfred Nilsson

Summary, in English

The dissertation De argutis imaginibus was presented in 1725, in Uppsala, Sweden, by supervisor Lars Arrhenius and respondent Johannes J. Dalenius. The text contains various ideas regarding emblem studies, and concerns itself with emblems as well as other argutae imagines – “witful images”. This thesis aims to present an overview of the content of the dissertation, and to frame this with a cultural and academic context. With this goal in mind, the research question being posed is: How can I today, by means of contextualising through intellectual and
cultural history, read and interpret the dissertation De argutis imaginibus? The study employs a context-driven method in answering this question, informed by semiotics as a theoretical framework. Essentially no previous research exists regarding the specific dissertation. In this thesis the context is initially presented, with emphasis on Baroque aesthetics, early modern emblem studies and the dissertation as a genre. The dissertation is then examined and related, primarily focusing on the textual content but additionally including a discussion of the images. The study finds De argutis imaginibus to be heavily reliant on other sources, with Jacob Masen’s Speculum Imaginum Veritatis Occultae (1650) as a main source of inspiration. Nevertheless, the text provides a clear example of which ideas regarding emblems and other witful images were in circulation in Uppsala during this period. To develop this interpretation and create a larger narrative, further research on the dissertation and related texts is suggested.

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