13-07-2023, 11:07 AM
That the nymphs are aquatic is for me the biggest error in the iconographic interpretation of the VM. And it is not a small error, but the one that prevents us from seeing clearly what Quire 13 means.
In f75r, as in others from Quire 13, there is that strange structure at the top, that kind of pineapple that is nothing more than the representation of the roof of the medieval universe. This will be better understood if you read the article that Koen G. and Cary Rapaport presented last year at the Malta Conference, in which they relate the recurring motif of the tents or canopies on the Voynich as a symbol of the sky.
In these structures or pineapples, the blue color is always present as a sign of the color of the sky. Certainly in Quire 13 the color green follows blue and this is important: green is lower. The interpretation of this is not easy, but I doubt the common explanation that green symbolizes water. It could be but it could be something else.
One of the most striking parallels is that in a large number of plants we see the flowers painted blue, which is rare, and the leaves naturally green. It is as if in the author's mind blue and green are interchangeable. I believe that this symbolism is the one that is present in Quire 13, but without forgetting that blue always means the color of the sky, as we also see in the Rosettes.
In f75r, as in others from Quire 13, there is that strange structure at the top, that kind of pineapple that is nothing more than the representation of the roof of the medieval universe. This will be better understood if you read the article that Koen G. and Cary Rapaport presented last year at the Malta Conference, in which they relate the recurring motif of the tents or canopies on the Voynich as a symbol of the sky.
In these structures or pineapples, the blue color is always present as a sign of the color of the sky. Certainly in Quire 13 the color green follows blue and this is important: green is lower. The interpretation of this is not easy, but I doubt the common explanation that green symbolizes water. It could be but it could be something else.
One of the most striking parallels is that in a large number of plants we see the flowers painted blue, which is rare, and the leaves naturally green. It is as if in the author's mind blue and green are interchangeable. I believe that this symbolism is the one that is present in Quire 13, but without forgetting that blue always means the color of the sky, as we also see in the Rosettes.