R. Sale > 16-07-2019, 11:12 PM
The “Apocalypse of S Jean” aka BNF Fr. 13096 is dated to 1313.
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A folio from this manuscript was recently posted in J.K. Petersen’s blog discussing the possibility that the elusive VMs (f80v) critter was related to medieval images of the Agnus Dei.
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In a typical representation, the Lamb of God usually supports a cross and/or flag. Obviously the VMs critter does neither and the same is true in the Apocalypse illustration. There we see a lamb on an altar. It is enclosed in a vesical piscis and framed by a cloud-band, which mark its divinity. And below this, if one looks closely, there are a number of small red markings, surely intended to represent the Blood of the Lamb. After all, it is an apocalypse.
Going beyond the specific appearance of the Apocalypse image, there is a simple structure that is basic to this part of the illustration. The structure is a sequence of three parts: the lamb, the cosmic boundary, and the droplets. Knowing this structure, the VMs critter is easily unmasked and clearly identified. Granted that the critter by itself has not been that easy to discover. Various possibilities, including a sheep, have been suggested. The identification is based on the complete structure, not on the appearance.
The recovery of heraldic terminology informs a direct etymological connection between ‘gewolkt’ lines and Wolkenbands. The same substitution of a nebuly line for a cloud-band is seen in the VMs cosmos. While the VMs artist’s best representation of a scallop-shell cloud-band is found in the Central Rosette. And, of course, the nature of the VMs droplets remains ambiguous, but at least they exist as potential droplets, making the same three-part structure as the Apocalypse illustration. And in some sense, it really doesn’t matter how poorly, or how diversely, or how ambiguously the individual parts of the structure are represented, as long as the structure is maintained, and there is some way for the parts to be properly interpreted, despite their appearance, then these are examples of the same structure.
As a lamb or sheep, the form of the VMs critter has been compared with that of the ram seen in the image of the Order of the Golden Fleece, begun by Philip the Good in Burgundy in 1429. Apparently the “Apocalypse of S Jean” was in the library of Philip the Good as well. Speculation must allow that someone of that era could have known the structure of the apocalypse image and substituted a reversed representation of the Burgundian fleece in place of the lamb while retaining the other parts. Not only that, if this occurred in the 1430s, it is still within the parchment dates.