Hildegard wrote the first of her vision-books, known as the
Scivias , around 1151. Until WWII, one copy (Rupertsberg) survived which was made shortly after her death, and certainly under the immediate influence of her surroundings. This MS was lost to the war, but fortunately it was copied in the early 20th century. Most Scivias images you have seen are from this modern copy (Eibingen).
The following fragment is from the Eibingen copy. We can assume that this is more or less how Hildegard herself had envisioned it. The six days of Creation
- Night and Day
- Sky and Sea
- Land and Vegetation
- Stars, Sun and Moon
- Sea creatures including fish and Birds
- Animals and Mankind
Illustrations of Hildegard's work could give rise to comparison with Voynich images. The style isn't standard medieval and the compositions deviate from stock scenes. There are cosmological elements and many naked figures (souls in Hildegard, "nymphs" in the VM).
Now upon closer inspection I'd say that the earliest Hildegard MSS are in style much more like the Spanish Beatus MSS of a century before, and don't share much with the VM apart from some degree of strangeness.
Now, to get to the point, what made me open this thread is the 6-days-scene from the 12th century You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view..
The overall style of the images is still quite different from the VM, and the same is true for the contents (an explosion of angels and Jesuses). But especially in the cosmological elements there is a departure from Hildegard's style towards things we are more used to, especially from the rosettes foldout. Note the eye-shape in the first day (top left), the blob representing the Earth with its waters, human heads in Sun and Moon, the green wave pattern under the dragon bottom left. Note certainly the "wavy starfish" bottom middle, which here represents the four rivers of paradise. Also androgynous human nudes, but that's not too exceptional in such works.
So, any thoughts? Has anyone studied this MS before?