Thanks, Koen!
Ah yes, when I looked into this a little more, I did realize that the term "bull's eye" for a target appears to have come too late, so this probably cancels this idea. The Greek "hamartia" can mean missing the mark or failing to hit a target one is aiming for (a metaphor from sport or archery, regardless of whether that target is a "bull's eye" or something else). The word was also used in a biblical context for sin. And it was used in Greek and Roman literature in the context of Greek tragedies, meaning an error that could have tragic consequences. These meanings all appear to date back to antiquity, but this strays away from the topic of this thread.
However, I do agree that multiple details on this folio and elsewhere may allude to Adam and Eve. The similarities to the "birth of Eve" imagery you point out are especially interesting given their close proximity to a red orb and a nymph whose braid resembles a serpent's tail... I think these Adam and Eve ideas warrant further investigation on their own, and should first be considered independently from any previously proposed layers of meaning (I don't want to muddy the waters even more than they already are
)
Who is left holding the apple? It's Eve. If it is an apple, then it is Eve. Of course, some representations have more than one apple. But You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. has no tree, has no serpent, has no Adam. So is it Eve and the Apple or not??
As a topic of investigation, this question attracts attention to a specific, traditional association of a woman and an apple in the story of Adam and Eve. The association is fairly easy, but it remains ambiguous because so many other essential elements are omitted.
Just above this association is another of a more difficult nature, because it depends on specific historical information, rather than traditional, biblical tales, and consequently it reveals more detailed information. This is the association of the Golden Fleece medallion with an old Agnus Dei illustration that was once held in the library of the same Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. (BNF Fr. 13096 f 16) The similarity is based on structure and identification, not on appearance. If the investigation of cloud bands showed one thing, it is that an incredible variety of appearance can be demonstrated by something with a singular, structural purpose - a cosmic boundary.
The VMs clearly possesses / suffers from the effects of this innate visual discrepancy. The illustrator has also chosen to make use of and amplify this type of discrepancy through the creation of combined images based on disparate sources (in the Cosmos & Melusine) and through intentional misdirection and disguise (Fieschi heraldry on White Aries).
There is no estimate to the extent of VMs trickery. What we have here are a few mountains that rise above the clouds.
There is a lot of general apple-pointing in imagery of the Fall. Not rarely, the serpent
herself partakes in this activity. (This was only the 4th image in my google search).
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attachment=5072]
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I just noticed that the piece of the nymph's hair that the other one seems to be holding/pulling, kind of looks like a rib, with its bowed shape and oddly smooth edges. The shape of it looks a lot like the rib in the below illustration.
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Ah, there is the rib
Certainly hair does not look like that.
It's remarkable that we see two clues for the religious layer in hair. Like each layer is focused around certain parts.
Some illustrations have more than one apple. In some representations, everyone (Adam, Eve & Serpent) has an apple.
In some illustrations, the serpent has no arms and holds an apple in its mouth.
In the situation I suggested, where a representation shows Adam, Eve and the serpent, and there is only one apple, who holds the apple in their hand as a potential match to the VMs image?
On the other hand, as far as illustrations which show God creating Eve from Adam's rib - - don't all of these examples actually depict God as an essential element in the "creation of Eve event". As far as I can see, the event does not take place without God being present.
Where is the representation of God in the proposed VMs comparisons?
Hmm, I don't know to what extent Lilith is involved. The serpent-as-woman apparently goes back to various literary sources who attribute it to Beda. Not in the least the Speculum Humanae Salvationis. The idea is always that the serpent took on "the face of a woman" because it is easier to be convinced by someone who looks like yourself.
This article You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. by John K. Bonnell suggests that there may have been influences from the mystery play as well. In these plays, they would have needed someone (a woman) to voice the serpent, and since this got approval from the church authorities, it may have eased the transformation of serpent/dragon into snake-woman.
Part of the Lilith myth (at least as it was told in the Middle Ages) is that she flies away.
It comes from the fact that there are two Genesis stories in the Bible. The Lilith story is one of the attempts to resolve the differences between the two stories.
Some times it is simply a serpent with a female head.