Conjectures about the “man without attributes” ( f85r2 )

[MarcoP]

According to Elizabeth Sears (The Ages of Man), "gesture" may serve as one of the attributes. She writes about the rather unwieldy Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. Ms-1234 You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. :

What an amazing scroll!

[Koen G]

I was surprised I had never seen it before - such a unique item. I forgot to add the screenshot I made of the 4 figures:

   

[bi3mw]

Here again is the classification of the ages (Aldebrandin de Sienne very probably refers to Avicenna, as he mentions him in a text passage):

.....
Dante adopted from Hippocrates and Avicenna the division into four stages of life, which correspond to the seasons: According to this model, youth comprises the period from birth to the age of 25 (childhood, adolescence), adulthood begins at 25 and ends at 45, old age ends at 70 [sic] and is followed by senility.

The Canon of Medicine ( Avicenna ), Volume 1, page 68 / 51.
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Hippocrates, the first physician, proposed a four-stage scheme: childhood, youth, maturity, and old age. For Hippocrates, the four stages of life corresponded to the organization of other aspects of the natural world based on the number four: the four bodily humors (black bile, phlegm, yellow/red bile, and blood); the four qualities (hot, dry, cold, and moist); the four elements (air, fire, earth, and water), and the four seasons.

Arnett, J. J. (2016). Life Stage Concepts across History and Cultures: Proposal for a New Field on Indigenous Life Stages. Human Development, 59(5), 290–316. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Contrary to the statistics, according to which the average life expectancy was less than 50 years, there were also very old people in the Middle Ages. However, the high infant mortality rate and fatal diseases made them statistically “invisible”.

   
This illustration entitled “The four ages of men” probably dates from the early 15th century ( British Library, Royal MS 17 E III,  f.80).

[bi3mw]

Can someone who can read French skim the page and tell me if it is about the four ages of man?

BNF, Ms. Fr. 12581, Folio 387v, Philippe de Novare, Les quatre âges de l'homme

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Edit: Or here
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[nablator]

Can someone who can read French skim the page and tell me if it is about the four ages of man?

Yes.

Translating from p. xiv-xv, the miniatures in BnF Fr 12581 in f. 387, 390, 395 and 401v are in bad shape (especially the first, the others are okay), they represent a (missing) figure holding a child, a young man, a more mature man, an old man leaning on crutches.

[Koen G]

The text on the MS page you linked seems to be about how God gave children 4 ways to love. They love their parents, they love people who play with them etc.

[bi3mw]

It's a pity that I can't read the text (or the edition on archive.org) It seems to be a fairly detailed treatise on the four ages of man. Something like that can be more informative than mere pictorial representations.

[nablator]

It's a pity that I can't read the text (or the edition on archive.org) It seems to be a fairly detailed treatise on the four ages of man. Something like that can be more informative than mere pictorial representations.

You would be disappointed.

[Searcher]

Hello everyone! 

I haven't written for so long that I don't even remember what I wrote before and what not. I've had the idea for a long time about the so-called "man without signs", that he/she symbolizes summer. How? I believe that a person, be it a man or a woman, with an outstretched hand with a hint of a wedding ring on his finger shows the audience a "June wedding", generally personifying the summer season with this sign. 

There is such a thing as a "June bride". Since ancient times, June has been considered the month of weddings because its patroness is the goddess Juno. The popularity of the summer month is also associated with the tradition of bathing in the Middle Ages and religious traditions.

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And what do we have then?
Spring is the time of birth, awakening, purity and flowers.
Summer is the time of weddings.
Autumn is the time of winemaking.
Winter is the time of fasting, prayers and important religious celebrations.

[MarcoP]

Great to see you back on the forum, Yulia!