31-01-2026, 01:28 AM
Are you sure that's the correct link, Rene? I see some guys feeding a horse (I'm on mobile).
I understand what you mean, and I don't expect to convince anyone. Suggesting this MS as potentially direct inspiration for the VM goes against everything I believe about the manuscript as well.
But I thought: what do I really know? Where it was made? I have no clue, do you? Many image parallels we consider remarkable are actually from southern Italy. So why should I let some vague preconception of "as far north as possible where they still knew swallowtail merlons" stand in the way of potential advancement?
I agree that the timing is a bit more awkward, but not prohibitively so. Taccola started preparing his work many years before it was finished, basically during peak VM time. And there's the matter of potential source images as well.
For me, the main issue is: what kind of person would have gotten access to Taccola's sketches or finished book and use that as one of the sources for something like the VM? He lived in a major city, where he interacted with people 365 days of the year. He was admired by the emperor (king of the Germans), whom he accompanied to Rome and dedicated this very book to. So there's a lot of potential characters that may have crossed his path.
It's just good to realize how little we actually know for sure. But I really like the parallels, including the sun that others pointed out. Finding a "full head" sun face is very rare, and this one has pipes and and 8-pointed star shape.
I understand what you mean, and I don't expect to convince anyone. Suggesting this MS as potentially direct inspiration for the VM goes against everything I believe about the manuscript as well.
But I thought: what do I really know? Where it was made? I have no clue, do you? Many image parallels we consider remarkable are actually from southern Italy. So why should I let some vague preconception of "as far north as possible where they still knew swallowtail merlons" stand in the way of potential advancement?
I agree that the timing is a bit more awkward, but not prohibitively so. Taccola started preparing his work many years before it was finished, basically during peak VM time. And there's the matter of potential source images as well.
For me, the main issue is: what kind of person would have gotten access to Taccola's sketches or finished book and use that as one of the sources for something like the VM? He lived in a major city, where he interacted with people 365 days of the year. He was admired by the emperor (king of the Germans), whom he accompanied to Rome and dedicated this very book to. So there's a lot of potential characters that may have crossed his path.
It's just good to realize how little we actually know for sure. But I really like the parallels, including the sun that others pointed out. Finding a "full head" sun face is very rare, and this one has pipes and and 8-pointed star shape.