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[split] full head in star-shaped rays - Printable Version

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RE: La Sfera by Gregorio Dati - JustAnotherTheory - 03-05-2026

(03-05-2026, 07:07 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It's just a carved pattern. A better comparison with an arcaded patter is from Pizan.

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Note that this is the only VMs example with *nine* ladies. And this is the only VMs example of a half-arcaded tub or of anything similar. And it's the back part of the tub, "hidden away". The VMs artist is a trickster.

Wow, this is great. Another good folio from that MS is this one:

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RE: La Sfera by Gregorio Dati - Koen G - 03-05-2026

(03-05-2026, 06:16 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It starts with the golden rays. This is Milan, 1385-1390.

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It's a sort of solar version of the cosmic boundary representation based on fire and light instead of clouds or blue pools.

Early depictions of the sun frequently use indented and/or dancetty patterns which are somewhat associated with fire. The golden rays seem to be a better depiction of light.

As far as I understand, the golden rays are like "splendor, brilliance", in the sense that they can be like actual light but in a dazzling way, or to highlight the importance of a person or thing. Kind of like a halo (it's also a form halos can take in art). The fact that these rays aren't uniform but have peaks and valleys might be Tuscan innovation, but it's too early to call. Your example points out clearly that this form predates the 15th century (though I guess a sun would be a clearer example).

Choosing a head instead of a traditional simple face for the sun might be the more radical shift, since it moves the heavenly body back towards full personification, and thus perhaps Godhood in the Greco-Roman sense. A Renaissance thing?

RE: La Sfera by Gregorio Dati - Rafal - 03-05-2026

Quote:It starts with the golden rays. This is Milan, 1385-1390.

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This particular image doesn't have sun at all. It shows Jesus Christ as an angel, seraphim to be precise (because of 6 wings).

[Image: 17102]

It feels a bit strange but it seems to be recurring motif in paintings of Saint Francis of Asisi:

[Image: 330px-Giotto._Stigmatization_of_St_Franc..._Paris.jpg]

RE: La Sfera by Gregorio Dati - Bernd - 03-05-2026

Should we split off the discussion about the origin of the star-sun to a new thread?

Some of the star-shaped rays are definitely halos or in a divine context. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. used them extensively in his illuminations of Dante's Paradiso. Only the one Koen already showed depicts a sun, simply described as The Light. The lower image shows Dante and Beatrice before ascending to the Heaven of the Sun. Upper Right Thomas Aquinas with Dominic and Francis. Left needing no introduction - the Holy Virgin.

   

Yates Thompson MS 36, after 1444 (?)
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Giovani di Paolo was probably influenced by the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and other Flemish painters who had been in Siena.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., 1412-1416
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Both Sun, Star of Bethlehem and divine light has the ray appearance. The landscape also is similar to Taccola. Yet no full head in star-shaped rays.

RE: [split] full head in star-shaped rays - R. Sale - 04-05-2026

Here is a collection of representations of the sun with a face.

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Contrasting with @Bernd's set of examples which depict the sun either as a star or as part of a manifestation, but *not* with facial features or a 'head' - like the minimal evidence which appears to be more Germanic compared to Italian.

Here is a nice 'head-like' presentation. It's Apollo in Pizan, Harley 4431 - but the golden rays are all wrong. They were given a dancetty pattern that makes it look like his head is on fire.

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Obviously, there are a number of factors, and they may have combined only quite rarely.

RE: [split] full head in star-shaped rays - JustAnotherTheory - 08-05-2026

Here are a few sunheads with rays from "Livro de la Menscalcia de li cavalli" (MS. M. 735), a 15th century Italian horse keeping manual.

   

   

Interestingly, there is also a wall with ghibelline merlons on top:

   

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RE: [split] full head in star-shaped rays - Koen G - 08-05-2026

Already on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.! :) 

For the sun, it's relevant to make the distinction between a face and a head. In your examples, the disk of the sun has a face, which is very common. However, in the Voynich and rare other sources, a full person's head (with hair etc) is imposed over the sun disk.