My how this thread has split into filaments. As far as rainbows, is it possible to open a wing of the Ninja Art Library based on a particular topic (e.g. rainbows), in addition to those based on specific sources? If individual images could be arranged chronologically then, with enough examples, variations could be examined and differences, changes and possible trends could be investigated.
Even though additional expansion of evidence could be helpful, it is only natural to extrapolate the initial data and look in the most likely places first. First there is the matching of appearance and then there is the matching of interpretation. Surely someone can recall , better than I can, the name of the system of sympathetic associations of colors, metals, planets, gems and qualities of personality that arose in the Middle Ages in Italy, If there is investigation of the actual structure and colors of particular examples, then the interpretation of the choice of color needs to comply with an existent system of interpretation in order to be properly understood - if a system of some sort can be applied to rainbows.
The vacancy at the VMs double rainbow is another matter for further consideration. Religious use of the double rainbow seems more predominant than for single rainbows. Does the unoccupied rainbow make the VMs artist a pagan or an anti-papist of the Holy Roman Empire? Why not a budding scientific naturalist who, perhaps, can see the rainbows as a natural occurrence? Can the artist's proposed political predilections be determined by swallowtailed merlons and empty double rainbows without taking into account VMs White Aries and the tradition of the red galero?
Even though additional expansion of evidence could be helpful, it is only natural to extrapolate the initial data and look in the most likely places first. First there is the matching of appearance and then there is the matching of interpretation. Surely someone can recall , better than I can, the name of the system of sympathetic associations of colors, metals, planets, gems and qualities of personality that arose in the Middle Ages in Italy, If there is investigation of the actual structure and colors of particular examples, then the interpretation of the choice of color needs to comply with an existent system of interpretation in order to be properly understood - if a system of some sort can be applied to rainbows.
The vacancy at the VMs double rainbow is another matter for further consideration. Religious use of the double rainbow seems more predominant than for single rainbows. Does the unoccupied rainbow make the VMs artist a pagan or an anti-papist of the Holy Roman Empire? Why not a budding scientific naturalist who, perhaps, can see the rainbows as a natural occurrence? Can the artist's proposed political predilections be determined by swallowtailed merlons and empty double rainbows without taking into account VMs White Aries and the tradition of the red galero?