The Voynich Ninja

(18-02-2021, 02:41 AM)CaryR Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It's more specific than the broad topic of this thread, but I was wondering about the prevalence of nude figures wearing crowns. Is this something that shows up in particular types of manuscripts? And in what contexts?

Hi, Cary:

The Three Magi sharing a bed are an example of nudes wearing crowns in medieval imagery. 

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This blogger states they wear their crowns when nude to reflect their exalted status.

This imagery is found many forms, including manuscripts and stained glass.

If l find other examples of nudes with crowns, l’ll post.

Thanks, Michelle, that's an interesting example.

One that I collected a while ago is an image of baptism in which the man being baptized in water wears a crown (I would guess that he wears a crown for a similar reason as do the three Magi in your example, to reflect his royal/exalted status, a normal reason to be wearing a crown, though I can't read the text to know for sure. And since the baptism requires nudity the crown would designate his status or identity in the absence of other identifying clothing.) I'd be interested in any other examples. Maybe this should be its own thread...

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[from Grandes Chroniques de France, 1375-80 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.]

I have a feeling that there should be several kinds of examples, but can't find any right away. Pizan's Muses in Harley 4431 do wear fancy headgear in their bath, but these are not real crowns



Obviously the king also wore his crown while making love




royal bedroom (David and Bathsheba) ‘Maciejowski Bible’, Paris ca. 1240
So.. bed, bath and baptism?  
I can't recall anything like the full frontal nude "queens" in the VM though, apart from classical examples like certain statuettes of Venus.

One group of nudes with headgear I presented in one of my marginalia posts:

P; 329, Bibliotheque Municipale d'Aix-en-Provence, MS 0022, Book of Hours, use of Rouen, 1460-1470

(18-02-2021, 07:20 PM)CaryR Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. though I can't read the text to know for sure. And since the baptism requires nudity the crown would designate his status or identity in the absence of other identifying clothing.) I'd be interested in any other examples. Maybe this should be its own thread...

Hello CaryR
I can read and understand French.

Yes, he's a king
The king (roy) of Burgundy is Gondebaud (480-516).
The person who baptizes him is called Saint-Rémy

(19-02-2021, 09:24 AM)Paris Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(18-02-2021, 07:20 PM)CaryR Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. though I can't read the text to know for sure. And since the baptism requires nudity the crown would designate his status or identity in the absence of other identifying clothing.) I'd be interested in any other examples. Maybe this should be its own thread...

Hello CaryR
I can read and understand French.

Yes, he's a king
The king (roy) of Burgundy is Gondebaud (480-516).
The person who baptizes him is called Saint-Rémy

I can't read the French of the Grandes Chroniquws, but I would have said the king is Clovis I

(18-02-2021, 05:15 AM)MichelleL11 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If l find other examples of nudes with crowns, l’ll post.

Back with another nude couple with crowns.    

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[attachment=5316]


This time it's illustrating the death of Rosamund and Emelcis (aka Hemelcis) in a book by Giovanni Boccacio (French translation), original title De casibus virorum illustrium (translates roughly to "Cases of the Distinguished") and is basically a collection of morality tales about the deaths of famous people over history.

The crowns in the bath here establish that both Rosamund and Emelcis are royalty/distinguished persons, specifically a queen and a would be king in the 4th century. Rosamund had been married to the Lombard king, Albion, who was a very cruel husband.  She takes Emelcis, the king's arm bearer as a lover and they plot to kill Albion.  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. Albion is then slain in his bed, although various versions have the friend or Emelcis as the actual murderer.

Rosamund and Emelcis attempt to usurp the throne, fail, and then run off together to Ravenna with Albion's treasures.  They get married, but Rosamund decides it would be in her best interest to take another man, Longinus, as a lover -- he was another conspirator in Albion's murder.  She decides to murder Emelcis with poison after the illustrated bath to be with Longinus (see bowl filled with poison in above illustration).  However, Emelcis forces Rosamund to drink the poison, thus ending her life, then he commits suicide using the rest of the poison.  They thus become a couple of moral examples of reaping what you sow.

Likely nothing to do with the VM -- but I do like stories -- so here is quite a tangled historical one for fun and amusement. 

I found a few more. The first is, somewhat like your last example Michelle, another tragic tale (Oedipus and Jocasta, 1494).
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(I'm not sure where it's digitized besides this link.)

Then there's another baptism of a king which is quite similar in design to the first one I posted:
[attachment=5332]
"Clovis, King of the Franks, and his subjects are baptized by St. Remigius of Rheims"

So it seems that these baptism scenes are a recurring type.

More unusual, though, are these others featuring nude females with crowns 

(Well, this one only counts if we're including "leafy" crowns). I'm not sure if this manuscript (1423) has ever been discussed here before:
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[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif](From: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )[/font]

And lastly, here is a nude Venus with a crown, standing in water from the "Libellus de decorum Imaginibus" (Upper Italy, 1420).
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