Linda said:
I think the nymphs appearing predominently female has more to do with the history of nymphs than the gender of the artist.
**
Agreed, it's not just about the gender of the artist. It's more about the gender that is inherent in the languages of the era. And from the language therefore, also in the thought and in the representation. Even Christine de Pizan has her representations of the nine, nude Muses. So does the VMs. She also uses the scallop-shell version of the nebuly cosmic boundary (as does the VMs, as does BNF Fr. 565.) Both Pizan and BNF are sourced to Paris in the early 1400s.
The VMs has 'the though', but what it lacks is the representation, [and about a dozen pages]. VMs representation certainly isn't Greek, and it hardly ranks at fair to middling among its contemporaries based on the C-14. The general lack of refinement in VMs illustrations has been turned to advantage by causing a lowering of expectations regarding VMs sophistication. Perhaps the drawings are so crude that complex interpretations cannot be considered. What is the nature of the cosmos and the zodiac as the VMs relates to the contemporary data of the C-14 era => as it was known to the VMs artist?
The many VMs 'bathing' nymphs are associated with water, for many others, it's hard to say what they are doing. For those in the zodiac, it seems probable that they represent days. Particularly as their number is halved in the two-part (paired) representations of VMs Aries and Taurus.
I think the nymphs appearing predominently female has more to do with the history of nymphs than the gender of the artist.
**
Agreed, it's not just about the gender of the artist. It's more about the gender that is inherent in the languages of the era. And from the language therefore, also in the thought and in the representation. Even Christine de Pizan has her representations of the nine, nude Muses. So does the VMs. She also uses the scallop-shell version of the nebuly cosmic boundary (as does the VMs, as does BNF Fr. 565.) Both Pizan and BNF are sourced to Paris in the early 1400s.
The VMs has 'the though', but what it lacks is the representation, [and about a dozen pages]. VMs representation certainly isn't Greek, and it hardly ranks at fair to middling among its contemporaries based on the C-14. The general lack of refinement in VMs illustrations has been turned to advantage by causing a lowering of expectations regarding VMs sophistication. Perhaps the drawings are so crude that complex interpretations cannot be considered. What is the nature of the cosmos and the zodiac as the VMs relates to the contemporary data of the C-14 era => as it was known to the VMs artist?
The many VMs 'bathing' nymphs are associated with water, for many others, it's hard to say what they are doing. For those in the zodiac, it seems probable that they represent days. Particularly as their number is halved in the two-part (paired) representations of VMs Aries and Taurus.