[Blog Post] The Zodiac as a "Labors of the Months"

[ReneZ]

The doubling of Taurus and Aries seems to relate to the number of nymphs around them, which is half that of the other signs. So it rather appears to be a case of splitting in two rather than doubling. The reason for this might be as simple as space constraints or other design considerations.

The first sign (Pisces) made good use of the fact that it is on a fold-out page. It allowed the creation of a circle as large as the height of the page. This may have been the plan for the entire zodiac cycle (we don't know), but if so, this idea was dropped immediately after. The next two (Aries and Taurus) have been split in two, still allowing some extra space for adding the nymphs with stars and labels. Also that idea was dropped, and the remaining signs are therefore more cramped, generally less well arranged and no longer painted (apart from the central emblem). 
More specifically, Cancer and Leo still follow the wide approach of Pisces, but they are cramped by the adjacent signs on the same side of the foldout, and their circles interfere/overlap.
The arrangement of the nymphs in the later signs was not well planned (extreme case: the inner circle of Sagittarius).

It gradually became more sloppy, or more hasty?