Getting close to a source for f85r2

[MarcoP]

Hi Marco,

It's a shame that so little appears to remain of Laufenberg's work. If he was really active since 1411, I would have loved to see the illustrations in his earlier MSS. But as you say, even if the seasons cycle started with the Regimen, its early copies would still fall within the radiocarbon range.

Hi Koen,
it's a half empty / half full glass. I think we are lucky that so many copies of the Regimen survive. Of course, it would always be nice to have more.

Can we assume this particular sequence of illustrations was made specifically for Laufenberg's text?

As You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., Laufenberg certainly used previous sources. Some of them were likely illustrated. Until we research the possible sources (Aldobrandino, discussed in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., is one of them), there is not much we can tell. Left, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (98v, 100r), right the ms you linked earlier: Aldobrandino You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (13v, 15v) - consecutive illustrations in both manuscripts.

   

I wonder what the odds are of an earlier Regimen still being out there. 
Virtually impossible?
Maybe already discovered but not included in the catalogues we're consulting?
Or something in between: likely existing in some archive, but "needle in the haystack" scenario?

I don't know, but we can always hope....

I was just re-reading the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. of the Regimen. It gives some indication that my suspicion of a source with reduced "redundant" images may be correct:

The Berlin and Karlsruhe manuscripts ( No. 87.3.1. and No. 87.3.4. ), on the other hand, contain a more reduced cycle. For example, illustrations were frequently deleted, possibly because it seemed redundant to show the scene of a doctor at the sickbed or a woman with a small child several times.

In the proposed scenario where the VM artist had such a reduced illustrative program in front of them, it is possible that they took the four remaining figures situated around the four seasons section, even though one or (in my opinion) two of those were section headers.

That page is very well made. I only read it a few days ago, but it really is the best place to start. I understand that the passage you quote says that  Berlin and Karlsruhe dropped some illustrations with respect to Munich (where the illustrations are only described) and Augsburg (the print edition). I am not sure what you infer from that statement?

Do you have an idea of why the circle should be read counter-clockwise? This is also the way three out of four figures are facing, but would probably go against tradition. Although if the Regimen hypothesis is correct, the circular diagram itself was likely a novel composition.

I have no idea, but I found that "Breviari D'Amour" has a counter-clockwise season diagram (image from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., BL Royal 19 C I,1300 ca, f. 54v). Starting East: primavera, estieu, autumnus, ivern.