Thanks, Marco, for yet another very clear overview.
I share your analysis to a large extent, but I feel differently about the last bit, at least if I understand correctly what you mean. Do you suggest that, since crayfish drawings are often hit and miss, we can't draw conclusions if artists make the same mistakes as those in the VM? I.e. if enough people copy a crayfish, you're bound to get some of the same mistakes?
I'd say that this is true, but on the other hand there are enough similarities between Prague-VM-Alsace to consider placing them together in one group compared to the other examples. This can best be shown by putting them all together like so:
Now first of all, of course there is not a single crayfish that shares all properties with those in the VM. The VM artist reduced the legs to sticks and the claws to weird attachments without flex. He also over-emphasizes the separation line between head and body.
If we're looking into possible relations with the VM drawing though, a very strong case can be made to group it with the Prague and Alsace examples. There is a major difference with the other two images: they reduce the body shape of the lobster to that of a fish, at which point legs are added as they saw fit. This is different in the "VM group", where the distinction with a fish is made for example by the three-sectioned beak.
PS: I just noticed in this picture that the green Alsatian lobster shares some specific details with the green VM lobster: green+red shading (awkwardly handled in the VM, as always); line between head and body (though more so in VM); exactly six horizontal lines on the tail; four lobes (?) on tail.
I share your analysis to a large extent, but I feel differently about the last bit, at least if I understand correctly what you mean. Do you suggest that, since crayfish drawings are often hit and miss, we can't draw conclusions if artists make the same mistakes as those in the VM? I.e. if enough people copy a crayfish, you're bound to get some of the same mistakes?
I'd say that this is true, but on the other hand there are enough similarities between Prague-VM-Alsace to consider placing them together in one group compared to the other examples. This can best be shown by putting them all together like so:
Now first of all, of course there is not a single crayfish that shares all properties with those in the VM. The VM artist reduced the legs to sticks and the claws to weird attachments without flex. He also over-emphasizes the separation line between head and body.
If we're looking into possible relations with the VM drawing though, a very strong case can be made to group it with the Prague and Alsace examples. There is a major difference with the other two images: they reduce the body shape of the lobster to that of a fish, at which point legs are added as they saw fit. This is different in the "VM group", where the distinction with a fish is made for example by the three-sectioned beak.
PS: I just noticed in this picture that the green Alsatian lobster shares some specific details with the green VM lobster: green+red shading (awkwardly handled in the VM, as always); line between head and body (though more so in VM); exactly six horizontal lines on the tail; four lobes (?) on tail.