31-10-2019, 08:48 PM
A proper "Bernardine" sun must have 12 rays - the meanings of the number was part of his sermons. In the famous Sienese paintings made around the time of his death, this number is always respected. But I've noticed that documents which are more removed can deviate from this number, sometimes considerably.
The Visconti hours were made before Bernardino standardized his symbol, and it appears they don't always use the same number of rays. One of the clips you posted elsewhere does have 12 rays though. Either this is a coincidence, or just the result of the obvious appeal of this number.
I was pondering that the VM artist may have experienced a problem because his sun has a stalk. This occupies the space where a green ray should be. Did he run some failed experiment on the right to compensate? It's hard to say, it's quite the mess...
The Visconti hours were made before Bernardino standardized his symbol, and it appears they don't always use the same number of rays. One of the clips you posted elsewhere does have 12 rays though. Either this is a coincidence, or just the result of the obvious appeal of this number.
I was pondering that the VM artist may have experienced a problem because his sun has a stalk. This occupies the space where a green ray should be. Did he run some failed experiment on the right to compensate? It's hard to say, it's quite the mess...