29-03-2016, 06:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 29-03-2016, 06:21 PM by Diane.
Edit Reason: add link
)
Helmut,
I don't know whether you've had much to do with living sheep, but their spines are not so flexible as would be needed to curl up into a ball like this, and I've never see any do so, not living or dead.
When sheep sleep - as I'm sure any medieval person would know - they lie on their side with their legs straight out (as a horse does), or they hunker down and stretch their necks out, resting on the ground or on another animal.
In my opinion, too, the placement and shape of the 'horns' aren't those of a sheep. Of course in all these cases, one can argue that such differences are due to some fault in the draughtsman, whether ignorance of sheep or inability to draw horns, but I can't say that there is much objective evidence in the manuscript to justify positing the draughtsman/men incompetent.
Perhaps there are pictures of sheep lying curled cat-like, but as I say a sheep can't do that, and I haven't happened across any medieval images which picture them so. Perhaps others have?
This is about the closest I've seen, and as you see, the body is still upright.
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I don't know whether you've had much to do with living sheep, but their spines are not so flexible as would be needed to curl up into a ball like this, and I've never see any do so, not living or dead.
When sheep sleep - as I'm sure any medieval person would know - they lie on their side with their legs straight out (as a horse does), or they hunker down and stretch their necks out, resting on the ground or on another animal.
In my opinion, too, the placement and shape of the 'horns' aren't those of a sheep. Of course in all these cases, one can argue that such differences are due to some fault in the draughtsman, whether ignorance of sheep or inability to draw horns, but I can't say that there is much objective evidence in the manuscript to justify positing the draughtsman/men incompetent.
Perhaps there are pictures of sheep lying curled cat-like, but as I say a sheep can't do that, and I haven't happened across any medieval images which picture them so. Perhaps others have?
This is about the closest I've seen, and as you see, the body is still upright.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.