Is the VM an autograph or copy?

[Stephen Carlson]

Stephen, Rene and I are not disagreeing about the order (the drawing was clearly arranged around the hole, so the hole came first). The issue is whether the hole was naturally in the vellum or whether it was forcibly added to the vellum.

If you look at that hole in the high res scan and compare it to the other holes 'popped' in the vellum, you'll see that it is quite different. Sergio Toresella noticed this when he examined it first hand.

It does look different, but I can't tell whether it was intentional (or just abraded differently) or, more importantly, whether it was to mimic its source.