as lovely as possible

[Sukhomvit]

"The mise-en-scène of the art of charcoal-burning is in itself as lovely as possible."
(quoted from Out of Africa by I. Dinesen)
May I read the red words as "very lovely"? Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, you can, but they don't mean the same. "as lovely as possible" means that it could not possibly be any lovelier. It is as lovely as it is possible for it to be. That's stronger than just "very lovely".