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Red Lips & Scallopshells
- Red Lips & Scallopshells
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Red Lips & Scallopshells
R. Sale > 05-06-2024, 07:54 PM
No manipulation or imagination required. You may have to look closely, but generally it's true that most all illustrations of VMs nymphs show the application of red paint to their lips and/or faces.
If you're looking for a scallop-shell cloud band, the best VMs example is in the central rosette. Regular nebuly lines are much used in the VMs
Several historical examples of both motifs combined can be found.
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This source is interesting because of the specificity of its provenance, both in date and location. Plus, it drops right in at the beginning of the VMs C-14 timeline and it establishes a particular location - right in the heart of the French + German + Swiss => Burgundian historical florescence that would occur during this time. From cosmic diagrams to costmary and everything between, the art reveals the artist. -
RE: Red Lips & Scallopshells
Koen G > 05-06-2024, 08:20 PM
I never looked into the historical range of rosy cheeks because I read a claim that this feature is found in a very broad range of dates and areas, so it would not help us much. At first glance, I'm afraid that this is true. For example, this is from a 12th century (!) Spanish (!) Beatus MS:
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RE: Red Lips & Scallopshells
R. Sale > 05-06-2024, 11:02 PM
That's certainly true. Not only could the painting of reddish lips and rosy cheeks be traditional, it is also a technique that an artist could develop independently. There are different ways of painting faces and there are many that were left unpainted. The thing about the VMs is that the artist was very thorough about getting those little dabs of red paint on nearly every face.
Another thing is that the presence of red lips is not simply a single factor investigation, but a dual factor authentication. Both red lips and cloud bands. It's like: "How many cardinals had red hats?" versus " How many cardinals had red hats and were armed, bendy argent et azure?" or anything vaguely similar? When identifying factors are very specific, it is good for them to be largely coincident, but when the identifying factors are more general, it is better when they are only minimally coincident.
Having both red lips and scallop-shell cloud bands in the same text, not to mention the same illustration shows that both elements were familiar to the creating artist(s) at a certain time and place. When it seems to be somewhat proximal to VMs origins, all the better to have something confirming rather than nothing to show.