30-10-2025, 04:54 PM
Thank you so much for sharing the interesting pictures and your reflections about purifying waters and mystical marriage. I find them valuable for mapping picture traditions that may relate to the Voynich Illustrations. No artist lives in a vacuum. Even when an artist seems original- or consider their work unique, they still build upon earlier art and the world around them. Among practising artists, it is well known that true originality is impossible. Therefore, artistic or architectural reference from before the carbon dating of the manuscript is of interest.
I think you are getting close the theme, especially in one picture (attached here), and I agree that it could be used symbolically or metaphorically, possibly in a different story or tradition than that of St. Catherine.
I would also like to add an observation to the picture of the ring-bearer. image. The figure to the left of the ring-bearer is smaller and has a more masculine expression than the others in this green pool. The masculinity appears in the lack of red lips and blushed cheeks, as well as the smaller eyes. It could represent the infant Jesus, as seen in the pictures of St. Catherine, though it is also possible the artist simply have forgotten to add the colour. The smaller size too, might carry another meaning.
Finally, I would offer a small speculation. I find your associations of saints, purifying waters and mystical marriage interesting, as I read the first word beneath the two figures as "sa(n)tu(n)g", taking into account that it was not unusual to omit "n" in medieval spelling.
I think you are getting close the theme, especially in one picture (attached here), and I agree that it could be used symbolically or metaphorically, possibly in a different story or tradition than that of St. Catherine.
I would also like to add an observation to the picture of the ring-bearer. image. The figure to the left of the ring-bearer is smaller and has a more masculine expression than the others in this green pool. The masculinity appears in the lack of red lips and blushed cheeks, as well as the smaller eyes. It could represent the infant Jesus, as seen in the pictures of St. Catherine, though it is also possible the artist simply have forgotten to add the colour. The smaller size too, might carry another meaning.
Finally, I would offer a small speculation. I find your associations of saints, purifying waters and mystical marriage interesting, as I read the first word beneath the two figures as "sa(n)tu(n)g", taking into account that it was not unusual to omit "n" in medieval spelling.