29-07-2017, 04:19 PM
This detail is from Matfré Ermengau , Breviari d'amor et Lettre à sa soeur ; Chansonnier occitan, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., XIV Century. The Breviari d'amor are often mentioned as an interesting parallel for the VMS.
Scenes in which the soul leaves the body of a dying person under the form of a naked child (or mini-person / animula) are quite common in Chrsitian art. Here what is interesting is that the devil is taking the soul with a rope. If one mirrors the image, this could be a parallel for our scene, with the cannon-nymph playing the role of the devil. In this case, the cannon would be some kind of hoover or pump collecting the hypothetical soul/star that would be moving towards it.
Of course, this is horribly far-fetched, I just found the devil's rope interesting. But one has to remember that stars with tails are one of the most common visual motifs in the VMS. One should really find a general explanation for this visual feature.
Scenes in which the soul leaves the body of a dying person under the form of a naked child (or mini-person / animula) are quite common in Chrsitian art. Here what is interesting is that the devil is taking the soul with a rope. If one mirrors the image, this could be a parallel for our scene, with the cannon-nymph playing the role of the devil. In this case, the cannon would be some kind of hoover or pump collecting the hypothetical soul/star that would be moving towards it.
Of course, this is horribly far-fetched, I just found the devil's rope interesting. But one has to remember that stars with tails are one of the most common visual motifs in the VMS. One should really find a general explanation for this visual feature.