R. Sale > 25-06-2020, 10:54 PM
Right, but the question about the critter of You are not allowed to view links.
Register or
Login to view. is, what is it? Golden Fleece from several sources, pangolin or armadillo? For a time the ideas were just presented, and just sat there.
Then a second element was introduced, and that was the nebuly line, and the concept of what a nebuly line can represent. A neuly line is a cloud band is a cosmic boundary.
What type of animal would be associated with a cloud band or cosmic boundary? It would be an illustration of the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God. So, it's Lamb of God and Fleece of Burgundy, an obvious potential for cross-pollination.
An old book in the Burgundy library has an Agnus Dei image that mirrors the structure of the VMs image - or is it the other way round. (BNF Fr. 13096 f. 18)
The common structure has the cosmic boundary between the lamb and the 'droplets'. The cosmic boundary is a cloud band in the form of a vesica piscis, though much reduced in the VMs, the distinct angle in the lower part of the nebuly line in the VMs representation corresponds with the lower intersection of the vesica piscis. And the plain ink droplets are, of course, ambiguous, though they are properly placed.
This is not a situation where the artist has gone all out to make the best representation possible. There are red lips and cheeks all over the VMs; why not red droplets? This is an example of well-known traditions that have been pared down in an attempt to minimize the chance of casual / obvious discovery. Other examples are the cosmos and White Areis which is an obvious attempt at deception. The VMs artist is always altering appearance, using heraldic canting, depending on underlying structure and tradition. Everything from a code shift, to a play on words, to an optical illusion. Full of visual shenanigans, the actual fleece goes the proper direction. It's the head and tail ends that got switched. Everything passes through the lens of ambiguity, intended to obfuscate, but not obliterate its true identity. Besides which, the artistry is poor and the chosen references used in the VMs have been outside the scope of many earlier investigations. Anything else?