13-03-2022, 02:31 AM
I also think VM was written by a group of women but not bcs I am a woman :-)
The number of appearances of so called “nymphs” is usually used as a main reason but I think we should also look at certain qualities/aspects of those images.
Personally I prefer to call them “women” rather than “nymphs” as the latter suggests the manuscript to be an unrealistic text located in phantasy land. Women in VM are designed with physical details so good sometimes that we can guess even their age - double chins or slim faces with red chicks, high breasts or those descending due to age, bells turgid or not, and so on. It tells us that who designed them, knew women’s bodies very well. You could say - a male doctor would know them. Yes, but how, in that case to explain that the few male figures in VM are designed without genitals? They seem some asexual mannequins. A male physician would design them with details too - there are many examples of medical manuals in Middle Ages depicting male figures with all physical due details.
But a group of women living together and not married (yes, I think there is a high probability that VM was written in a convent) would be reluctant to design a man with details. Maybe even unable bcs of, let’s call it - personal knowledge of a man’s body?
The number of appearances of so called “nymphs” is usually used as a main reason but I think we should also look at certain qualities/aspects of those images.
Personally I prefer to call them “women” rather than “nymphs” as the latter suggests the manuscript to be an unrealistic text located in phantasy land. Women in VM are designed with physical details so good sometimes that we can guess even their age - double chins or slim faces with red chicks, high breasts or those descending due to age, bells turgid or not, and so on. It tells us that who designed them, knew women’s bodies very well. You could say - a male doctor would know them. Yes, but how, in that case to explain that the few male figures in VM are designed without genitals? They seem some asexual mannequins. A male physician would design them with details too - there are many examples of medical manuals in Middle Ages depicting male figures with all physical due details.
But a group of women living together and not married (yes, I think there is a high probability that VM was written in a convent) would be reluctant to design a man with details. Maybe even unable bcs of, let’s call it - personal knowledge of a man’s body?