11-09-2018, 10:24 AM
Ooh great find Marco! I've been calling it a wedding scene just to give it a name, but it became clear to me that many illustrators were themselves confused about what was supposed to be going on.
It is likely that the exact significance of the scene didn't matter for the person who drew it in the VM. I'm just hoping we'll be able to find out with more precision where exactly the image came from.
If I'm not mistaken, your mid-14th century French example is the earliest one found of a proper crossed arms image. In the VM the arms are still crossed, but in Alsace they became uncrossed. However, in the Alsatian examples the style, colors, clothing and details are close to the VM.
It seems unlikely that the VM illustrator re-crossed the arms. Hmm..
It is likely that the exact significance of the scene didn't matter for the person who drew it in the VM. I'm just hoping we'll be able to find out with more precision where exactly the image came from.
If I'm not mistaken, your mid-14th century French example is the earliest one found of a proper crossed arms image. In the VM the arms are still crossed, but in Alsace they became uncrossed. However, in the Alsatian examples the style, colors, clothing and details are close to the VM.
It seems unlikely that the VM illustrator re-crossed the arms. Hmm..