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+--- Thread: Objective comparisons (/thread-2335.html)
Objective comparisons - R. Sale - 11-03-2018
The investigation of VMs illustrations has long been based on the comparison of appearance, proposing a match between a particular VMs illustration with something from a historical source. It has generally been considered that the best approach to making such a discovery is to match appearance as closely as possible. And conversely, the failure to demonstrate a sufficient similarity in appearance has also been considered to be a failure of the comparison per se. Given that the interpretation of appearance is subjective, differences of opinion will arise on specific issues, but, basically, investigation remains stuck in this appearance-based paradigm.
Let’s consider a different tactic. Let’s make a more fundamental inquiry. If appearance is subjective, *what* is objective?
Structure, position, sequence, number, and color can be considered objective factors. Some of these are just natural; others require the knowledge of particular traditions and historical examples. With that knowledge, comparative similarities can be demonstrated objectively, even when appearance is subjective and ambiguous. And this is important because the VMs illustrations are not only subjective in their interpretation, they are often ambiguous in their creation. And by ambiguous, I mean that they intentionally contain visual elements of confirmation and contradiction.
Ambiguity in the VMs often seems to contain enough contradiction to confuse and frustrate identification and also to maintain sufficient confirmation to prevent complete rejection. And this ambiguous, visual appearance is then given objective confirmation by structure, for example, as seen in the cosmic comparison. *Once the proper and absolutely necessary historical illustration [Oresme BNF Fr. 565] has been rediscovered!* (E. Velinska 2014)
What is more, the degree of structural similarity reveals that Oresme (565) is a highly probable source for VMs f68v, while the degree of visual dissimilarity reveals the extent to which the creator of the VMs representation was able to play off of the original Oresme image in order to create the intended difference in appearance that attempts to disguise the source of this particular cosmic structure. The VMs creator avoids the pictorial version of an inverted T-O earth, makes a circular joke from *surrounded by stars*, clearly knows the cloudy interpretation of a nebuly line, has hidden the good cloud band in the Central Rosette, and has tossed in a big old wheel with curved spokes entirely composed of textual banners, purely for the sake of visual effect in creating apparent difference where none exists.
The use of these objective factors as a means of identification occurs in other VMs locations.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. In the 4 x 17 symbol sequence, the fifth symbol has three different interpretations: as a medieval number, as a Roman numeral (inverted), and as a Greek alphanumeric. Each interpretation is confirmed by a separate sequential or positional (objective) fact.
F70v2 This is VMs Pisces at the start of the Zodiac sequence. This is the start of the pairing paradigm. The pairing paradigm follows the law of Deuteronomy in the requirement that the truth must have two or more witnesses. And, despite the outrageous beginnings of the VMs Zodiac sequence, the pairing paradigm is maintained, in various ways, through the central medallions of the first five zodiac houses.
Pairing continues in a second (paired) phase in the tub patterns at the top of VMs Pisces. Some of the basic patterns found on the Pisces and Aries pages invite comparison with heraldic insignia, perhaps such as those that were used on pharmaceutical jars for a time. But the lack of color and other discrepancies create a very difficult problem. There is in fact an intentional ambiguity involved, that seeks to provoke sufficient difficulties to prevent the investigator from working around the entire circuit. And that is because something significant is sitting in the fourth quadrant. It is a strange twist of history that something so significant to the interpretation of these illustrations turns out to be an almost obscure and forgotten heraldic fur – paired in Pisces and Dark Aries.
The path of pairing continues on White Aries. And behind the optical illusion of radial orientation there sits a pair of blue-striped patterns. And this pair of armorial insignia, in combination with a potential red galero, make an unmistakable visual reference to a specific historical event. *If the reader knows that event!* And otherwise there is no event recognition..
Built-in confirmations occur nevertheless, with the recognition of the presence (1) of the proper, traditional placement of the relevant figures according to clerical hierarchy; (2) of the most favored location according to heraldic positioning; and (3) of the use of the only acceptable zodiac medallion based on ancient sacrificial rituals. All of this, which conforms to historical examples and known traditions, based on objective determinations of position and structure, is confirmed by being represented in the VMS.
And to leave no doubt, there is the structural correspondence, in quadrant and in sphere of the paired blue-striped patterns on White Aries with the pair of papelonny patterns of the pages just prior. The VMs author has created an example of heraldic canting that works well in French. Oresme was French. The scallop-shell patterned version of the cloud band is well represented in French sources.
A fancy pair of Stolfi’s text markers are found in the circular bands of text on White Aries. They are connected to the investigation of historical heraldry because there is a connected example drawn on the page! The possibility of further investigation might be discussed later. The point here is that the objective means of investigation have yielded some success, while the subjective appearance of images spin some strange stories that have no objective confirmations in the VMs.
What are the necessary criteria for the consideration of an alternative paradigm in the VMs investigations? The investigation of VMs illustrations can not be totally based on visual appearance. Rather, such an investigation depends predominantly on the objective means outlined above, as a way to connect the ambiguous illustrations with established traditions and historical events.