Let's rate some bulls

[R. Sale]

There are four biblical manuscripts from the Lauber workshop in e-codices.

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Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. C 5   1431-1437

Frauenfeld, Kantonsbibliothek Thurgau, Y 19    c. 1450

St. Gallen, Kantonsbibliothek, Vadianische Sammlung, VadSlg Ms. 343c & d   c. 1450 Old and New Testament

Solothurn, Zentralbibliothek, Cod. S II 43   c. 1460

There are numerous illustrations of Moses, particularly in the first two. His horns are consistently lyre-shaped, but they are relatively short and well separated. There are several illustrations of bulls, nothing special, and there's this little guy.

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None have the tall, close together horns of the VMs Taurus bulls.

While Lauber's workshop is promoted as the exemplar for the mass production of hand-made manuscripts and there clearly are matching illustrations in the different texts - take Abraham and Isaac, for example, each version has its own unique details. The idea of a "fixed template" from which all versions were copied seems to apply only in a very general sense.