27-01-2020, 07:04 AM
Folio 85r (the dense-text folio) looks like the ink has settled.
What happens is the ink at the top of the inkpot will be slightly lighter and more watery, but if you dip the pen deeper, you get darker slightly thicker ink. It increases the contrast and the watery parts will sometimes spread out very slightly.
Ink needs to be shaken once in a while.
So... the zodiac folios didn't get turned quite as often as they should for the text to be clear and vertical... the ink sometimes wasn't shaken as often as it would be by a professional scribe.
I've often wondered if the VMS was done for a patron, for personal use, or for the designer's heir (it was apparently not uncommon for men to write books of knowledge to pass on to their sons).
Given the style of the manuscript and the many shortcuts, it doesn't seem as though the VMS was done for a patron, unless it was a patron on a budget.
What happens is the ink at the top of the inkpot will be slightly lighter and more watery, but if you dip the pen deeper, you get darker slightly thicker ink. It increases the contrast and the watery parts will sometimes spread out very slightly.
Ink needs to be shaken once in a while.
So... the zodiac folios didn't get turned quite as often as they should for the text to be clear and vertical... the ink sometimes wasn't shaken as often as it would be by a professional scribe.
I've often wondered if the VMS was done for a patron, for personal use, or for the designer's heir (it was apparently not uncommon for men to write books of knowledge to pass on to their sons).
Given the style of the manuscript and the many shortcuts, it doesn't seem as though the VMS was done for a patron, unless it was a patron on a budget.