Cannons versus Pipes

[Barbrey]

Or perhaps the artist had heard of perspective [3-D] and chose not to use it. All that extra time lining things up. Heck with it. Two dimensions are sufficient, three would be excessive. What is the purpose of the illustrations? This is clearly not a work of representational artistry. Do the illustrations constitute a form of communication? What does the artistry have to say?

What form does this communication take? Is the VMs expository? Was it intended to come right out and say what the author(s) intended to communicate as plainly as possible? Or is this something else? Something more complex, more involved, more intricate, more sophisticated, more tricky than was expected. Examples from certain investigations, starting with the VMs cosmos, show what the VMs artist knew and how they chose to represent that information. The examples make historical connections, and they also seem to show an intentional manipulation of appearance.

Absolutely agree with you re intentional manipulation of appearance. Nymphs, for instance, appearing as pregnant women, but can stand in for male, female, gods or goddesses, water of life, angels, souls, star essence, etc. It’s only their context or implements that help identify them. And when you have a narrative, the same drawn nymph won’t appear again to continue the story, but a different one. You MUST already know the narrative/story exceptionally well to follow along. 

Which is why I’ve always thought the VMS might be some type of grandmaster test.