Garden of Virtues

[Koen G]

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is a copy of the « Somme le roi » or « Livre des vices et des vertus ». It contains an image of the Jardin des Vertus, an allegorical representation. The seven fountains/springs/wells represent the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and the trees represent virtues. The tall one in the middle is Christ. The virtuous ladies are using cups to water their virtues with the "gifts". 

When I first saw this, I thought it was similar to certain VM folios, namely You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and maybe to a lesser extent f84r . When I compared them in more detail, I thought, "nah, it's nothing". And now I think that still there may be some conceptual similarity.

   

The similarity is that you've got a number of female figures in a row, each flanking a stream of water. In the VM, these are labelled, suggesting that they may each stand for something specific. The direction of the water is different in the VM, where it seems to come from the sky (?) and whatever is going on in f84r.

Here is an older example from Ms 870, Bibliothèque Mazarine. The relation between the women with their cups, the water and the trees is clearer here. I like how the cups are basically circles or watery rings

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These also exist in the VM, though they are almost always connected to tubes and the nymphs kind of put their hand inside them.