UF to host lecture giving new perspectives on Macedonian painting

February 24, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Olga Palagia, who specializes in classical archaeology, will lecture at the University of Florida on “New Perspectives on Macedonian Painting,” at 5 p.m. Feb. 27, at the Fine Arts Building B, room 105. The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture by Palagia, a professor at the University of Athens, is presented by the Harn Eminent Scholar Chair in Art History program and the UF School of Art and Art History.

This lecture attempts a new interpretation of funerary wall paintings in ancient Macedonia of the early Hellenistic period. Athenian grave monuments tended to concentrate on everyday pursuits of the deceased, while Macedonian funerary art introduces an eschatological element, as several paintings deal with the afterlife and the gods of the underworld. Other topics introduced are battle scenes, funeral games or life in the royal court, including hunting scenes. These subjects betray the influence of funerary iconography in the satrapal courts of Asia Minor before Alexander’s conquest of Asia.

Palagia’s courses and research interests focus on the classical sculpture in Greece from the fifth century to the Roman period. She is the recipient of many honorary fellowships, including the Australian Greek Award, the Kress Lectureship in Ancient Art from the Archaeological Institute of American and the Andrew W. Mellon Art History Fellowship from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Her book, “Materials and Techniques in Greek Sculpture,” was published this year by Cambridge University Press.