25-04-2016, 06:56 PM
What I see in the Vatican illustration, besides the nebuly line, is a starry dome, a rainbow with God above and a bunch of feathers and whatnot going on below. The similarities with the VMs illustration are minimal.
What I found more interesting, even though there appears to be no biography in English, is the artist, Wynandus de Stega, aka Winand von Steeg (etc.), a German cleric, b. 1371 - d. 1453. He lived mainly in the southwestern part of Germany. He was a competent adult throughout the entire time of the VMs Carbon-14 dates. He was a cleric with possible knowledge of church history and tradition (specifically the red galero). And he drew a darn good version of an elaborated nebuly line or Wolkenband. Not that this makes him the author of the VMs, but these are certainly characteristics that the VMs author might have.
There are several aspects to the matter of nebuly lines in the VMs. And one is their interpretation, which has been discussed. Another is the actual construction of a nebuly line. By definition it must be bulbous, but how bulbous? In some of the elaborated examples of de Pizan or the Apocalypse tapestry, the individual bulbs have been given a serious pair of shoulders to puff out the blue and white cloud bands.
It is better to compare the elaborated version of the Vatican example, not with the plain nebuly line as above, but with the much more elaborated VMs example found in the Central Rosette. Here is where the discovery is made.
In the regular nebuly line and in many of the elaborated examples cited, the stroke that makes up the bulbs of the nebuly line is smooth and flowing. Contrast that with the Vatican example where the stroke that makes up the nebuly line is quite jagged. In heraldic terms the line is mostly of the engrailed / invected type with a few wavy parts.
Now compare that with the VMs example from the Central Rosette. Again the line that makes up the individual bulbs is mostly of the engrailed / invected type with a few wavy parts. Very interesting, no?
Is this technique an individual artistic idiosyncrasy or a German stylist tendency of the time?
What I found more interesting, even though there appears to be no biography in English, is the artist, Wynandus de Stega, aka Winand von Steeg (etc.), a German cleric, b. 1371 - d. 1453. He lived mainly in the southwestern part of Germany. He was a competent adult throughout the entire time of the VMs Carbon-14 dates. He was a cleric with possible knowledge of church history and tradition (specifically the red galero). And he drew a darn good version of an elaborated nebuly line or Wolkenband. Not that this makes him the author of the VMs, but these are certainly characteristics that the VMs author might have.
There are several aspects to the matter of nebuly lines in the VMs. And one is their interpretation, which has been discussed. Another is the actual construction of a nebuly line. By definition it must be bulbous, but how bulbous? In some of the elaborated examples of de Pizan or the Apocalypse tapestry, the individual bulbs have been given a serious pair of shoulders to puff out the blue and white cloud bands.
It is better to compare the elaborated version of the Vatican example, not with the plain nebuly line as above, but with the much more elaborated VMs example found in the Central Rosette. Here is where the discovery is made.
In the regular nebuly line and in many of the elaborated examples cited, the stroke that makes up the bulbs of the nebuly line is smooth and flowing. Contrast that with the Vatican example where the stroke that makes up the nebuly line is quite jagged. In heraldic terms the line is mostly of the engrailed / invected type with a few wavy parts.
Now compare that with the VMs example from the Central Rosette. Again the line that makes up the individual bulbs is mostly of the engrailed / invected type with a few wavy parts. Very interesting, no?
Is this technique an individual artistic idiosyncrasy or a German stylist tendency of the time?