10-06-2026, 11:58 AM
The significant differences of such astronomical/astrological use of nudes, compared to VMS, are:
- the „nymphs“ in buckets/tubs connect to their stars with the hands, not with heads - to be more exact, mostly with their left hands, but also with right hands.
- not all „star-nymphs“ are nude, some show clothing randomly
- the number 19 (even if the 12+7 addition was accepted and common) does not appear anywhere in VMs zodiacs, we know the counts of 29, 15, 30, maybe 31, depends on what is counting.
The use of left hand for important matters (like touching a star) is quite a no-go in many west-european, and a lot of eastern cultures. For Europe, this is connected to spread of Christianity, but also some other reasons may be causing the preference of right, „good“ hands.
Figures in whole VMS are preferring to present items with their left hands, but right-hand-use is also represented.
This brings back to question of nude nymphs and their jobs.
The relevant questions to ask are:
- did the draftsman/painter just don‘t care for left hands‘ prejudices or did he even intentionally draw these as acting parts?
- are there (european) cultures not caring for the choice of left or right hands, or even with a special meaning of using left hands under certain circumstances? (there are some)
- why female representations, randomly clothed?
- the „nymphs“ in buckets/tubs connect to their stars with the hands, not with heads - to be more exact, mostly with their left hands, but also with right hands.
- not all „star-nymphs“ are nude, some show clothing randomly
- the number 19 (even if the 12+7 addition was accepted and common) does not appear anywhere in VMs zodiacs, we know the counts of 29, 15, 30, maybe 31, depends on what is counting.
The use of left hand for important matters (like touching a star) is quite a no-go in many west-european, and a lot of eastern cultures. For Europe, this is connected to spread of Christianity, but also some other reasons may be causing the preference of right, „good“ hands.
Figures in whole VMS are preferring to present items with their left hands, but right-hand-use is also represented.
This brings back to question of nude nymphs and their jobs.
The relevant questions to ask are:
- did the draftsman/painter just don‘t care for left hands‘ prejudices or did he even intentionally draw these as acting parts?
- are there (european) cultures not caring for the choice of left or right hands, or even with a special meaning of using left hands under certain circumstances? (there are some)
- why female representations, randomly clothed?