Let's rate some bulls

[MarcoP]

It  seems that the Voynich illustrator was somehow obsessive with this "far front leg raised" motif. It does occur in zodiac illustrations from other cycles, but not so systematically, I think. As with human figures, it seems the Voynich illustrator prefers consistency over variety.

   

An interesting side of image comparison is that artistic skill plays a role, though this may not be easy to assess. There are a number of features that possibly depend on skill rather than artistic choice, e.g.:

• weird back legs (which are anatomically wrong)
  
• genital confusion (like the previoius point, this could be an "interference" of human anatomy?)
  
• smooth outline (which basically ignores anatomical detail)
  

My guess is that these features are particularly likely to be due to the Voynich illustrator (they had likely seen correct drawings but couldn't or didn't care to render some of the details). I am speculating, of course.

These are a couple of illustrations from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that I think have a similar "feel" for poor execution (though I doubt they can score particularly high).

• You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Zodiac emblems from other pages from this manuscript have been discussed in the past
  
• Liber Floridus Leiden, Univ-bibl Ms 1° 31
  

   

Lippincott collected illustrations from seven copies of the Liber Floridus, so in this case one can see the influence of individual illustrators with respect to their sources.