The Voynich Ninja

(24-05-2018, 10:09 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.A whole different rainbow situation:

Venus, sitting on a rainbow, with her devotees who offer their hearts to her ----The Hague, KB, 74 G 27 . Christine de Pisan, L'Epistre d'Othea Place of origin, date: Auvergne(?); c. 1450-1475 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

This double page from Vergilius Romanus (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., 5th century) shows classical illustrations of the gods: the central figures in the two groups are Jupiter and Neptune. Both groups are presented in a cosmological framework: Sun and Moon, rainbow and a multitude of cross-shaped stars.
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Apparently, this rainbow motif was related with divinity since classical times. It was then adopted by Christianity, at that time the motif of a figure (Christ / God) sitting upon the rainbow was invented (but I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be of classical origin too). This motif could also be used in a "parody" like that of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

With the XV Century new popularity of the planetary gods (in particular in the context of the Children of the Planets theory) the motif returned to be associated with pagan deities. In this other copy of the Epistre (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., 1460), it is clear that the rainbows here are a variant of the wolkenband / nebuly-line motif: they have the function of making the personifications of gods different from the regular persons that appear in the illustrations.
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A helpful overview, Marco. It makes me think of how different the VM is, again. 

So if we were to draw up a typology of rainbows as they appear in medieval art, we have seen at least the following categories:

• Just a rainbow, no interaction with figures. See Linda's post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., and Marco's post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. for a labelled example.
  
• Part of general cosmological background to scene, no interaction with figures.
  
• Divine throne, with the function of indicating that the enthroned figure does not belong to the earthly realm.
  
• Illustration of Rainbow-like Iris stone, see Marco's post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
  
• Association with the elements - is this illustrated in a pre-VM document?
  
• Rainbows as essential part of a narrative, as in the story of Noah, see Marco's example You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
  

Did I miss any or make any mistakes?
In my opinion the first four examples can be excluded for the VM. The last two or a combination of both remain possible - or something else altogether of course.

It is clear that rainbows and cloud bands were both artistic techniques used to help designate various deities. The illustration from Bodmer 49 in Post #71 is a sort of hybrid. A cloud band pattern in a rainbow-shaped construction.

*However* it is not a nebuly line.    It is a WAVY line.  Nebuly is defined as having crests and troughs that are bulbous. Both wavy and nebuly line motifs are used in cloud bands along with many other patterns and techniques, some of which are representative of fire, rather than clouds. The fiery examples use lines that are indented or rayonny, and colors that are red, orange, yellow etc. (The Bedford master or Hildegard of Bingen)

There are two considerations related to the VMs. Why are the double rainbows of the VMs unoccupied? And how does the cloud band pattern of the Central Rosette have a scallop-shell pattern so similar to the example in Oresme's cosmic illustration (BNF Fr. 565)?

(26-05-2018, 09:39 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It is clear that rainbows and cloud bands were both artistic techniques used to help designate various deities. The illustration from Bodmer 49 in Post #71 is a sort of hybrid. A cloud band pattern in a rainbow-shaped construction.

*However* it is not a nebuly line.    It is a WAVY line.  Nebuly is defined as having crests and troughs that are bulbous.

Thank you, I think I understand your point.
Rainbows and nebuly lines appear as distinct elements in the earliest copies, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., produced under the direct supervision of Christine de Pisan. I think this could support the idea that the wavy line inside the bow in Bodmer 49 originated a conflation of the two motifs.

I found this one on a Russian You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. about Tacuinum Sanitatis, but don't know more about it. Apparently a rainbow sky accompanies someone picking and smelling herbs.

(26-05-2018, 05:43 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.A helpful overview, Marco. It makes me think of how different the VM is, again. 

So if we were to draw up a typology of rainbows as they appear in medieval art, we have seen at least the following categories:

• Just a rainbow, no interaction with figures. See Linda's post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., and Marco's post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. for a labelled example.
  
• Part of general cosmological background to scene, no interaction with figures.
  
• Divine throne, with the function of indicating that the enthroned figure does not belong to the earthly realm.
  
• Illustration of Rainbow-like Iris stone, see Marco's post You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
  
• Association with the elements - is this illustrated in a pre-VM document?
  
• Rainbows as essential part of a narrative, as in the story of Noah, see Marco's example You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
  

Did I miss any or make any mistakes?
In my opinion the first four examples can be excluded for the VM. The last two or a combination of both remain possible - or something else altogether of course.

Thank you, Koen.
The idea of a classification of rainbow illustrations seems interesting.

Here is a small, rather messy, table where I have collected a few of the images discussed in this thread by various users. I have arbitrarily chosen a few categories that seemed interesting to me.

My impression is that "scientific" works tend not to have figures (Bede, Hortus Sanitatis, Hrabanus). On the other hand, the presence of heavenly bodies correlates with an allegorical meaning (but for the sun, whose relation with the rainbow is factual).

In my opinion, some things seem peculiar with the Voynich rainbows:

• there are several of them, and they are all rather different from each other
  
• all have something flowing from the lower extremities
  
• there is a continuum from reasonably realistic rainbows (f82v) to weird artificial rainbow-like pipes (f83r - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. per-se wouldn't even berecognizable as a rainbow); even the rather clear double rainbow at the bottom of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. appears in a scene that includes a bizarre pipe
  

I think I would also exclude a narrative, since neither the rainbows nor the figures appear to be very realistic. The association with the elements seems to me both thin and late. Anyway, the whole subject would definitely require more research: until now, I have not see anything that seems truly comparable in any specific way.

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I think it is quite clever the way the VMS artist manages to combine in a single drawing many different references.

To me the "pinecones" in the biological section, discussed in another thread, are a perfect example of a single image which references the clouds and the rain, the tents and the trees and the mountains all at once.

Maybe not all of the suggested references are intentional but certainly there are a few - so it may not be a case of either/or but of several themes at once. Some may see this as a deliberate attempt to bewilder and confuse but it seems to me to be a valid part of the artistic process.

Compare this to the often heated online discussions about the meaning of song lyrics: -
"It's about this!" "No it's about that"
Of course it's about BOTH and that is the whole point.

I wonder if sections like this started as a doodle which then develops and expands?
Hope this is not too off topic but I think it's relevant.

Also: the rainbow with the herbs pictured above - did you see the jars with the bases? Relevant to the Herbal B section I think.

(28-05-2018, 11:46 AM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I found this one on a Russian You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. about Tacuinum Sanitatis, but don't know more about it. Apparently a rainbow sky accompanies someone picking and smelling herbs.

Thank you, Koen!
I would love to read the text associated with this illustration, but I have been unable to identify the ms it comes from and no similar image appears in the other copies I have examined.
My impression is that the colored bands might represent the planets, as in this illustration from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.: the text could then be about the astrological influences in plant gathering (a frequent theme in late medieval herbals, e.g.  the Alchemical Herbal). But I am speculating...

Had to post this one.

Ah, yes, that's a good one, another Lauber production... Konrad von Megenberg Das Buch der Natur Hagenau - Werkstatt Diebold Lauber. The same one that has the little critter with the odd hind legs that vaguely resembles the VMS pond critter.