08-05-2018, 01:12 PM
(08-05-2018, 12:16 PM)Davidsch wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Yes DonJch I agree that it is very improbable that this is an actual rainbow.
But, it is very common in the VMS, that the old transcriptions (with comments & observations) contain basic assumptions that are wrong.
What happens is that it has been proven to be very difficult for people to see a red color if you write down a blue color is actually red. ;-)
Davidsch: so are you referring to the psychological experiments where they test peoples reaction to words for colours that are written in a different colour? This is a good point.
As far as basic assumptions that were wrong, Aristotle recognised a 3 colour rainbow with red, green and violet. Islam recognised a 4 colour rainbow of red, yellow, green and blue where the colours represented the 4 elements, earth air fire and water and this system was becoming relevant in medieval times. The VMS drawing shows space for 4 bands (alchemy).
None of that says anything about the order of the bands though.
My point is simply that a true scholar of optics in the 15thC would not have been able to bring himself to draw a rainbow as wrong as in the VMS. I am trying to get into the head of the author here.
Ergo my working concept of the author changes from scholar to...what? Student? Artist? Scribe? Trader? These seem good possibilities. I wonder what picture others have in their minds?
I would love to see scans from some of the student notebooks from Poland that have been mentioned previously.