The Voynich Ninja

Edit: posts split from this thread, where Marco posted about this manuscript: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

This one is striking to me. Blue/white crosses and the leaf arrangement is very similar: paired with one at the end. It's f70v.
Does this plant occur in other herbals too?

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The plant appears to be named "ruchola", so it should be "eruca sativa". I guess the illustration doesn't derive from the Alchemical Herbal, but possibly from Circa Instans / De Plantis, but I haven't been able to find other medieval illustrations of the plant.

EDIT: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. could be meant to be the same plant, but the Riccardiana illustration seems too different to derive from that.

Probably reinventing the wheel for the fifth time here, but I'm not sure if I had noticed this before. 

The family if the Brassicaceae (or the older term Cruciferae, cross-bearing) is a huge one. Common names in Dutch and German are interesting: kruisbloemen or Kreuzblütler, both meaning "cross-flowers". I haven't been able to find out yet if any of the cross-flower names was already in use in the Middle Ages for any of the plants though.

I guess this might also mean that both images may be the result of convergent evolution. For that, they would both have needed an example that shows a cross-shaped flower with widened ends, and/or a description or name that involves cross-shaped flowers.

Here's what I find especially interesting though. In my research for last year's Voynich Manuscript Day, I noticed that not only do the VM flowers have too much blue (compared to other sources) but also a frequent combination of blue and white.

Comparing the shading style of this herbal to what's going on in the VMS, it feels very likely to me that:

• The VMS painter had access to a model that used a shade of blue as the shadow for white
  
• They tried to imitate this technique, but did so very clumsily. See for example how the blue part on the crosses is applied without much insight.
  
• Several (though not all) of the instances where the VMS combines blue and white might actually be intended as just white.
  

For examples see You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (buds), You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ...

Something like You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is less clear, but the inside of the flower shows to me that shading is (awkwardly) intended. If the painter indeed used blue as a shadow for white, then even something like You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. might be intended as an all-white flower (the placement of the blue parts at least makes some sense as shadows). 


If they thought that blue is what white looks like in the shadow, it would even explain the many absurdly blue "insides", like You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . The flowers of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. would be all white instead of absurdly blue-white alternating. It explains so much of the oddities.

Thank you, Koen! "Crucifera" sounds like a great explanation for the crosses in the Riccardiana plant. I haven't found medieval references to that specific name, but it is mentioned in a herbal by Ulisse Aldrovandi dated 1560 ca: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

A few images of Eruca Sativa. Left to right:

• You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
  
• Alchemical Herbal plant #65 Florence BL 2 106 f.34r
  
• Riccardiana 2174, 50r: this appears to be the Alchemical Plant (an embellished version of the previous one)
  
• Riccardiana 2174, 70v: cross-flowers, source unknown (not from the Alchemical Herbal)
  

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Thanks, Marco! The way you navigate herbal manuscripts is unparalleled.

It's interesting to see that the features shared by the VM plant and Riccardiana are absent from the others, or at least less clearly present. The particular shape of the crosses and their blue-white shading. The oval shape of the "buds". The arrangement of the leaves (though this is far from a good match overall).

If this parallel holds any water, it's also interesting that cross shape and paint style go hand in hand.

The hypothesis that blue was used for shading is certainly interesting. Can we compile a list of herbals that use this technique?


A quick look shows the alternating blue-white pattern can only be found in scribes 1 and 2. Arguably, the sample size of scribes 3 and  is much smaller though.

(15-05-2025, 01:04 PM)Bernd Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The hypothesis that blue was used for shading is certainly interesting. Can we compile a list of herbals that use this technique?


A quick look shows the alternating blue-white pattern can only be found in scribes 1 and 2. Arguably, the sample size of scribes 3 and  is much smaller though.

I think a larger review of shading techniques might be very useful here. It would certainly take some time and dedicated effort though. For me it would have to be on the "look into this later" list, since I first need to finish my Q&A videos and presentation for VMD. 

It goes beyond blue-white though. Comparing this manuscript to the Voynich paint job can teach us a lot about what they are actually trying to do. Just look at the red lines here. It's not sloppy, it's just shading!

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When it comes to paint differences between Herbal A and Herbal B, I have not been able to find anything other than the lack of red for B. It is quite possible that the MS, in its original order, was painted by the same person who ran out of (sufficient) red paint at some point.

Now I see why some of these plants remind me of Dioscorides. It's the threedimensionality of the full-page plants and the shading (which also relates to the images becoming less "flat").

On the left is You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., an early 15th century copy of the ancient Juliana Anicia Codex. Middle VM plant. Right Riccardiana 2174 f28r.

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Of the Dioscorides plant, we didn't quite know what it was for certain, but one of the options was Tormentilla, like the Riccardiana plant. The latter may have been taken from the Tractatus de Herbis, of which see examples here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . Especially You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. appears similar, with the three stalks and dense flowers at the top.

I find it fascinating to compare the art style of all these examples. Those based directly on Greek exemplars or harkening back to classical art (usually later than the early 15th century) use shading, leaves layered behind other ones, twigs bending in a more natural, non-schematic way, attempting to explore depth. Fully medieval illustrations tend to be flattened, often more schematic.

The Voynich plant belongs to the first category but the attempts at shading are very rudimentary and it appears to me that the painter did not fully understand how to achieve the desired effects (or those found in the exemplar).

I agree Koen, I think Dioscorides could be a plausible source for the Riccardiana Eruca.
Here is the plant from the 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. Dioscorides.

None of the two is perfect, the leaves from Napes are possibly closer, but seeds from Chigi are better. Anyway, they are a much better match than the Alchemical Herbal or De Herbis.
By the way, posts about Riccardiana 70v, starting from #31, should probably be moved to a different thread, since they are not related with the Alchemical Herbal.

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