R. Sale > 10-01-2020, 12:29 AM
Let's look at it this way. Take a famous person's photograph and crudely draw the iconic bushy eyebrows, black glasses and big mustache of Groucho on their face. Who is it? Well, if you know the famous person and you know Groucho Marx, you can understand the combined image. If you don't recognize the 'famous' person, you still have a partial understanding. BUT, if you don't have any familiarity with either of these two elements, then it is difficult to explain adequately what is going on.
The same thing applies in the VMs. Remember that Wm. Newbold identified the VMs cosmos as a drawing of the Andromeda galaxy. Since that time I hope that a better interpretation has been discovered.
One of the things that now appears to be responsible for the difficulty in analyzing certain VMs representations is that they are 'combined' images. The Golden Fleece plus Apocalypse 1313 combination is discussed above. More easily seen perhaps is the VMs cosmic combination that was formed from the combined use of the structure of the Oresme cosmos (BNF Fr 565) and that of the Shirakatsi 'Eight Phases of the Moon' diagram. If these two diagrams can be combined, it practically gives us the VMs cosmos. Of course, the VMs illustration has been modified to diminish the similarities of visual appearance. However, these are still somewhat similar to the original elements because visual similarity is not eliminated and structural similarity is well-maintained.
In a situation where A + B = C. And all we have is C. How can C be explained? C might be the Andromeda galaxy or an armadillo splashing in a puddle. And if we have A without B, or B without A, then it is still difficult to explain the unrecognized portion. And it can be argued that the part we think we have found has been incorrectly identified, because it fails to be visually identical. However, when both A and B have been recognized and shown to form C when they are combined, then we can recognize what has been done to obfuscate the VMs representation of the cosmos. And we can further see that the same technique has been used on other illustrations (f80v). And *this* is why the VMs is so hard to pin down. Visual appearance fails, intentionally. Looking at appearance fails, knowing structure succeeds.
Having identified the elements that were combined to create VMs illustrations, we can then examine the sources for those elements. Having prospectively identified the Golden Fleece, based on the knightly order that originated in 1430 in the court of Philip the Good, who was Duke of Burgundy between 1419 and 1467, and shown that the Apocalypse of 1313 was in the library of the same Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, leads (IMHO) to the logical possibility that the person who created the drawing of the VMs critter (f80v) was a person who was familiar with both elements and chose to to combine them and draw them with a certain level of obfuscation. Thus leading to a century of frustration and confusion for those who insist on finding purely this (A) or purely that (B), and otherwise calling the investigation invalid.
Examples of combination:
Oresme + Shirakatsi = VMs cosmos
Golden Fleece + Apocalypse 1313 = VMs critter
Zodiac + heraldry = VMs Pisces
Zodiac + heraldry + ecclesiastical tradition = VMs White Aries
Zodiac + heraldry = Papelonny pun = VMS Pisces, Dark Aries, White Aries
Botany + heraldry = f35v, f41v, f50r, f50v, You are not allowed to view links.
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The thing about the combination of botany and heraldry is that this is not a valid combination. But if the investigator does not know heraldry, does not recognize the nebuly line, the rayonny line, or cloud bands (f41r, f48v, f94r), then this invalid juxtaposition is and remains an unseen factor in VMs investigation. And as such it constitutes a failure to see the level of deception and trickery used in the process of VMs creation. Unless such deficiencies are corrected (IMHO), they will continue to retard VMs investigations.