I've blogged about the sculptural/mosaic/window influences, but not extensively (the blogs were already long).
I can't remember the details because it was several years ago, but I think I figured out that the sculptural and window zodiac designs tend to precede the manuscript art with the same themes by about 2 or 3 centuries.
As for the connection between the VMS thematic style and the style that originated in northeast France/Flanders/Anglo-Norman area, I don't think there's any doubt about that. I thought I had documented it well enough to convince even the most skeptical that even if the VMS illustrator saw a specific examplar in Italy, Bavaria, or Alsace, the themes migrated there from northeastern France. The only thing I wasn't able to document for certain was whether it went east and south, or south and east, on one very specific part of the migration route. There seems to be equal evidence for either possibility.
I can't remember the details because it was several years ago, but I think I figured out that the sculptural and window zodiac designs tend to precede the manuscript art with the same themes by about 2 or 3 centuries.
As for the connection between the VMS thematic style and the style that originated in northeast France/Flanders/Anglo-Norman area, I don't think there's any doubt about that. I thought I had documented it well enough to convince even the most skeptical that even if the VMS illustrator saw a specific examplar in Italy, Bavaria, or Alsace, the themes migrated there from northeastern France. The only thing I wasn't able to document for certain was whether it went east and south, or south and east, on one very specific part of the migration route. There seems to be equal evidence for either possibility.