09-06-2026, 05:24 PM
The term "nymphs" is merely a convention: I don't think many people think of them as actual nymphs. So objecting to the literal interpretation of "the nymphs" as nymphs is an accidental strawman.
Some traditions (Beguines, mystics, Italian frescos) conceptualize and depict the soul as female, the bride of Christ, immaculate... Though this mostly applies to the blessed soul that belongs to one leading a virtuous life, or that is with Christ in heaven.
The Blessed tend to wear clothes though. You're much more likely to see nude figures among the damned, and these are not exclusively female either. Quite on the contrary, the damned tend to represent all parts of society. Or they might just be anonymous male and female figures. This is also what you see in Dante illustrations for example.
So I guess a "souls" interpretation would work best if the figures were either all female and clothed, or all nude and mixed.
Either way, giving a single interpretations for the VM's nude figures that accounts for every context they occur in would be quite the challenge.
Some traditions (Beguines, mystics, Italian frescos) conceptualize and depict the soul as female, the bride of Christ, immaculate... Though this mostly applies to the blessed soul that belongs to one leading a virtuous life, or that is with Christ in heaven.
The Blessed tend to wear clothes though. You're much more likely to see nude figures among the damned, and these are not exclusively female either. Quite on the contrary, the damned tend to represent all parts of society. Or they might just be anonymous male and female figures. This is also what you see in Dante illustrations for example.
So I guess a "souls" interpretation would work best if the figures were either all female and clothed, or all nude and mixed.
Either way, giving a single interpretations for the VM's nude figures that accounts for every context they occur in would be quite the challenge.