Those last two manuscripts are great finds, Cary. The one on the Heidelberg site pops up from time to time: You are not allowed to view links.
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The first figure is apparently Luxuria holding an ointment vessel. The second Venus swimming while admiring herself in a mirror.
The final MS (Reg.lat.1290) is specially interesting. My favorite image is the "Juno on raining cloud" discussed You are not allowed to view links.
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I think it cannot be underestimated how crowned, nude women would be seen as Venus-types, especially when their hair was loose. The example of Rosamund posted by Michelle earlier in this thread is a good illustration. She is nude, crowned, and her hair is long and loose. The reason why they drew her like a Venus is simple, given this line from the summary of her story: "Ultimately, Rosamund manipulates one of Emelcis' friends (by tricking him into sleeping with her and using the fact that he had slept with the King's wife as blackmail) to kill Albion."
The roses look almost pathological to me - maybe because of their flatness - they look like horrible sores rather than some sort of adornment. Very interesting!
It must be noted that examples like the one above are usually (if not always) quite a bit later than the VM though. This MS is 16th century.
There is an illustration from a manuscript of the Speculum Humanae Salvationis from around 1440 with a nude female figure wearing a crown-
I'm not sure who this is meant to be- does anyone know? (Edit: I posted this a bit too soon; since I found that a very similar image exists You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. that identifies this as a personification of the Seven Deadly Sins, although this version is dated 1490-1500 and is a bit different since the figure is clothed. But I know little about this imagery.)
[attachment=5379]
From f.97 St. Gallen, Kantonsbibliothek, Vadianische Sammlung, VadSlg Ms. 352/1-2
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At first glance I thought it was one of those convoluted mnemonic figures where each attribute stands for a part of a Bible book or chapter. But yeah, it appears to be about sins.
The dog apparently stands for Envy.
Pride is clearly symbolized by the peacock feathers, as well as the crown and any rich clothing (the latter does not really apply here). Maybe also the angel wings.
Sloth is the donkey.
The cup stands for Gluttony (drinking lots of wine).
The vulture claw in her hand probably stands for Greed. But then I don't know where Wrath is.
In other examples, "lust" is just written on the chest, but here she is nude to make it even clearer.
The leg she stands on tends to signify man's life, and the snake is death.
I expect this is a crossover from a closely related tradition. Here is a similar example from a Biblia pauperum: You are not allowed to view links.
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In short, for this image the crown + nudity stands for pride + lust. Venus is never far off, it seems
@ Koen.
After the St.Gallen variant, there is not only envy.
Also hatred, anger, intemperance and gluttony.
He goes on to write:
Die als einen Hund je wonat by.
That is what lives in a dog.
I had hoped to find an academic work specifically discussing this amalgamation but wasn't able to do so.
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But I do bring this schema which is a useful overview of the various ways this theme has been presented.
The closest to what we are discussing in this schema is Frau Welt -- however, I don't think this is the name of what Cary posted as the basic description has only some similiarities -- although I could be mistaken.
Michelle, I was able to find an You are not allowed to view links.
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figura mundi, Sieben-lasterweib (seven-vices woman), Vice, or Frau Sunde (Dame Sin). It seems it derived from an earlier type of image in 13th century Germany of a woman who appears beautiful when viewed from the front, but viewed from the back she reveals horrible creatures and decomposing flesh. This was apparently supposed to warn of the moral corruption hidden in the world. In the 14th century the imagery was reconfigured so instead of beautiful front/hideous back, various different body parts are attributes for particular sins.
There's a very similar (but clothed) one in the You are not allowed to view links.
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Login to view. with the different sins labelled on the body parts. I don't know if the nude figure is typical of any more of these images, but yes, its meaning is clear and (once again!) not too far off from the Venus type.