R. Sale > 08-12-2019, 01:07 AM
My VMs investigations have been focused on several VMs illustrations, primarily the VMs cosmos, the Zodiac sequence and the VMs 'critter' (aka armadillo, pangolin, etc.)
The investigations of E. Velinska from 2014, show a strong structural similarity between the 'Oresme' cosmos from BNF Fr. 565 and the interior part of the VMs cosmos. What was missing in her analysis was an explanation for the outer "wheel and curved spokes" seen in the VMs representation. What now seems clear is that this outer structure is derived from something very much like the Shirakatsi diagram.
You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view.
Another cosmic representation found here is illustration from Harley 334, in a text by Gautier / Gossuin de Metz. Both of these cosmic illustrations were published well after the passing of the respective authors. The Oresme text c. 1410; the de Metz is dated 1425-1449. Both produced in Paris. On another folio of the de Metz manuscript there is an illustration of a "woman in a fish's mouth", much like the one in VMs Quire 13.
In my opinion there is a strong structural similarity between the Agnus Dei illustration found in the the "Apocalypse of S Jean" (1313) and the representation of the VMs 'critter' (also in Quire 13). The structure, lamb / cosmic boundary (vesica piscis as cloud band) / droplets of blood, is repeated in the VMs illustration, critter / nebuly line as cosmic boundary / droplets (?) nondescript. Very difficult to find illustrations where the lamb and the blood are separated by a cosmic boundary. The interpretation of a nebuly line as a cosmic boundary is also used in the VMs cosmos and has an etymological and heraldic basis. The thing that makes the 1313 illustration relevant to the 'Burgundy" hypothesis is that it was in the library of Philip the Good, who was the duke of Burgundy between 1419 and 1467. In addition the 'critter' has been compared to the creature used in the emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece. And the Order of the Golden Fleece was established by Philip the Good in 1430.
For me, this creates a historical 'hot spot' that is outside the realm of random occurrence. Whoever created the VMs had to have some familiarity with these illustrations and the relevant information - whether that occurred at the time (mid 1400s) or somehow later on.
As to the VMs zodiac sequence (briefly), the White Aries folio opens the Genoese Gambit. It poses the question: Does the reader know the heraldic, armorial insignia of the pope who began the Roman Catholic tradition of the cardinal's red galero? If there is a place where reading the VMs text could prove significant, it involves the circular bands of text designated by Stolfi's markers.