Palatino 766 pipes, pools, cliffs, streams... (by Taccola)

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I am certain that either Kyeser, Taccola or both must have been a source for the VM.

I agree, and this is hugely significant indeed: I feel like we have never been closer to seeing a book the VM makers must have had in their hands (apart from the actual VMS )

However, I am not certain if Kyeser offers any advantages over Taccola. The layout of the vertical ravine with the "rainbow bridge" siphoning water, the extra pool to the left and the little stream connecting both bodies of water diagonally running top left to bottom right... This appears to be a Taccola composition used as a basis for whatever You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is supposed to be. And then there's the sun, which was first noticed because of the tubes, then the rare inclusion of a full head, but appeared to have much more going for it still. And the use of patterns, which runs deep. I haven't pointed out all of it yet, because for some reason people here demand 1-on-1 copies. But on a more abstract level, Taccola's art-historical position in between the Middle Ages and Renaissance causes him to use patterns in an idiosyncratic way. And I suspect the VM artist "learned how to draw" specific things from Ingeneis 3+4.



So for me, the main connection remains Taccola. When I talked about this with Marco, we first experienced a certain disorientation. The evidence is actually quite good, but dissonant with previously held beliefs. I was a fervent pre-1430's proponent, and now we're looking at 1433. I opposed connections to royalty, and now we're talking about Barbara of Celje. I defended Alsatian/Swiss sources for the imagery, and now we're in Tuscany?? Not even Lombardy or the Veneto... So there's a lot of mental resistance here, from myself in the first place. But I feel like the evidence is strong enough to adjust those expectations. 

At least we are in goat territory

I'm not sure those things are fully discordant. The evidence for Lauber with the green and red lobster is absolutely clear.  The idea of a Tuscan book making it's way to northern Italy or southern Germany is not outlandish either, likewise a book making its way from Germany to Italy is not outlandish. I keep coming back to Padua for a reason. It had a huge Natio Germanica and was the only place Jews were allowed to study (I'm not saying it was Jewish, but I find so many examples of Jews building multi part books, taking inspiration from Arabic, Italian, German, that this seems to em at least plausible). This and its physical location seems to me to be the obvious nexus for all of these elements.  As for Barbara, I'm less convinced by this. I think there's some coincidences, but right now my feeling is that's all they are...