RE: Is the VMS a work of female authors ?
R. Sale > 10-05-2022, 07:26 PM
Of course, there is Christine de Pizan, and her group. Several of her autograph mss. in the library of the dukes of Burgundy - KBR. It's not the possibility, but the probability of female composition / construction. Yet the VMs itself is a specific and unusual document - not so much subject to probability as it is to the interpretation of its illustrated content.
And what about the content? Does it tend more toward the feminine or the masculine? Here there are the starry nymphs named Stella, very few appear to be masculine. Yet which stars, beyond the Pleiades are actually named for women?
In the VMs Zodiac medallions, there is the bride in VMs Gemini. This is the heiros gamos, the sacred marriage, the pairing of complementary opposites, which is an important topic, but not relevant here. And there is also VMs Virgo, an illustration which has been interpreted as containing clues to a crescent moon and connections to certain medieval representations on the Virgin Mary. The use of the combined image technique is also demonstrated in the VMs cosmos. If this interpretation is accepted, then the wreath of VMs f86v4 would be the wreath of the Virgin and be indicative of a current church tradition. [Also: Red Galero]
Melusine is another female indicator. The VMs mermaid illustration (f79v) is also an example of combined images, where Melusine of Luxembourg is substituted for the generic mermaid of Harley 334 and the Lauber illustrations. Melusine is associated in the VMs illustration with one version of the Golden Fleece, originated 1430, through the Valois family ancestry of Berry, Burgundy, etc.
The myth of Philomela is another female-centered story. Probably because of its violent nature, it does not appear in Christine de Pizan's works. However, it did exist, separately from the rest of Ovid, and a ms. was part of the Berry library, along with others that have certain cosmic (BNF Fr. 565 and the Berry Apocalypse [nebuly line]) and Melusine [Lusignan castle, Tres Riches Heures, etc.) related historical, mythical, and textual connections.
The other part of the Golden Fleece pairing (f80v) leads to the Agnus Dei that was in the Burgundy library as BNF Fr. 13096.
Pizan produced several versions of the Muses, nine women in a tub with those big white hats, but in the two versions of this image from the KBR, the representation is more naturalistic. Of course, there are groups of women in various numbers in the pools of the VMs. Is it only the presence of nine at once, that makes them Muses?
In amongst the nymphs there are examples holding a ring or a cross. Such items figure prominently in the biography of Colette of Corbie, who reformed the Poor Clares. Her efforts began in 1410, were mainly in the state of Burgundy and were supported by the dukes and duchesses, continuing after her death in Ghent 1447.
Among the nymphs of VMs White Aries upper right is a beauty in a green dress. Does she represent an image to be interpreted as Lady Bertilak, wife of the Green Knight, a popular tale?
In summation, a very wide variety of female situations to be represented by a woman - or a man. The focus of these interpretations for these examples clearly seems to be feminine and not masculine.