The "4 Ages of Man" Folio

[Dana Scott]

Just as a side note, I would no longer make statements with the same unwarranted certainty and zest as I did 8 years ago...

Have you changed your mind about any of them or would you just have left more room for doubt?

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I see an extended left arm and hand with index finger pointing and a right arm down to the wrist. The right hand (assuming it exists) is hidden by the wall.

Thank you for your reply!

I have to admit I saw it that way until I looked at my own hand to compare after i read what the others had said. If it was a left hand, the ring would be palm side somehow, which is realistic, happens to my rings all the time, but the fingers are curled back behind the ring, which isn't realistic if they are facing forward. I can't make my left hand look like the picture. Possibly curled forward without definition (no fingernails), but that would mean the ring was on the first knuckle or on the fingertip itself, covering the fingernail. Either way is strange. If I compare my right hand to the image while crossing my arm over my body, it matches better. I agree the other hand is hidden by the wall. Thank you for the word 'wall' because I couldn't think of how to describe it.

But you have coloured in the parts I was also asking about, so I guess you see it as the paint having chipped away? I have attached the Beinecke drawing but it loses definition at this size. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

I see a sort of ink brown pebble design in the upper and lower parts, so I don't think it is paint artifact. The other part looks like sleeve piping but there is another triangular bit that is unpainted that has a c or crescent there, with possibly a pebble on the curved side of it, instead of being painted blue as you did, and would expect to be done.

I am also curious about the wall part, see how the semicircle is extended on this one and a mark placed on the left side. Did they just overshoot and mark it to correct, or does it mean something else?

Perhaps what you are referring to is a misaligned "rivet" (red dot)?