Color of the water on f79v as an indicator of religious cleanliness

[Jorge_Stolfi]

I kept thinking about how odd the water is.  In some pages, it's blue!  In others, it's green.

It is never repeated often enough that there is some evidence indicating that the colored paints were applied by a later owner, who did not know or care about the correct colors (as the Author intended them).  And there is no evidence suggesting that they are contemporaneous with the penning of the outlines and the text.

Apart from that, pure water is essentially colorless over the depth of a tub or pond.  It may look light blue from dissolved minerals, or green from algae.  Outdoors it may look blue by reflecting the sky.  "Water is blue" is a graphical idiom that one must learn -- from looking at the sea, but mostly from maps drawn using that idiom.

Below her is a woman lounging on her back, wearing some kind of head covering and some kind of wring, bracelet or shackle.

That "showercap" or diadem headgear is a characteristic contribution of the "Boobs Retracer", a later owner who added breasts, nipples, belly buttons, and other anatomical details to many nymphs throughout Bio and Zodiac.  See the "Retracer" thread.

The "bracelet" (like maybe other objects held by other nymphs) may be an addition by that Retracer, too.

All the best, --stolfi

[gerrydelasel]

My feeling is that we have "good water" - blue and "bad water" - green here. 

I came to the same thought when I first saw f79v, but on other pages it is less consistent, so I'm less inclined to read anything into it now. I tend to think an artist just colored things in depending on what color paint he happened to have mixed up. Run out of blue? I'll carry on with that green I mixed yesterday.

[pjburkshire]

Page You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is the same as You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .  The fluid starts out blue at the top from some frilly unknown object, passes by multiple nymphs, ends up in green fluid at the bottom.

[bi3mw]

I came to the same thought when I first saw f79v, but on other pages it is less consistent, so I'm less inclined to read anything into it now. I tend to think an artist just colored things in depending on what color paint he happened to have mixed up. Run out of blue? I'll carry on with that green I mixed yesterday.

I don't think the choice of colors was arbitrary. Rather, I assume that the choice of each color represents a stage in a process (which cannot yet be defined in detail). Since we do not yet understand this (alchemical?) process, it is impossible to say when and why green follows blue—or vice versa.

[pjburkshire]

The nymphs on the top of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. seem to be on frilly unknown objects that may be producing the same blue fluid as seen on 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. .

The infamous "armadillo" seems to be on a similar frilly unknown object that may be producing the same blue fluid.  I don't think it is an animal.  I think it is unfortunate artwork.  The not-an-armadillo seems to be "raining" on another nymph with a wedding ring -- or a doughnut.

Again the fluid continues to the bottom of the page, past multiple nymphs and segmented tubes, only this time the fluid at the bottom is blue.

[R. Sale]

"Unknown frilly object" = nebuly line = cloud band (air) = cosmic boundary. See f68v3 cosmos.

[pjburkshire]

"Unknown frilly object" = nebuly line = cloud band (air) = cosmic boundary. See f68v3 cosmos.

You see what you see.  I see what I see.  You see a weather report.  I see gestation and pregnancy.

[R. Sale]

Hopefully, we will see what the VMs artist intended. Using appropriate medieval elements and terminology is a step in that direction. IMHO.