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+--- Thread: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? (/thread-1970.html)
Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - MarcoP - 24-06-2017
Voynich You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. feature marginal illustrations and a mix of Voynichese and words written in the Latin alphabet. I think these two small sets of marginalia belong together, i.e. they are too similar to be unrelated.
D'Imperio wrote:
“There are small drawings of people, animals, and other less easily-identifiable objects on some pages. Folio 66r, as has already been noted, contains a drawing of a man lying on his back clutching his stomach as if sick or dead, and surrounded by various indeterminate small objects. The last page, 116v, has several sketches of people, animals, and other mysterious shapes in its upper left corner”.
(I guess she mistook the figure in 66r as a man because she only had poor quality reproductions of the illustrations)
In my opinion, the two illustrations represent two “patients,” together with the substances to be used to cure them. I guess this interpretation is widely seen as the most likely, but I would like to know what others think. In particular, I would be interested in different interpretations of the two sets of illustrations and corresponding visual parallels.
Here are a few illustrations that I consider relevant to the subject:
- Patients are often illustrated as naked, possibly a way to make them immediately recognizable from people curing them (e.g. J and K). Sometimes, they are naked even if there is no physician in the scene (e.g. D, E, F, G-left, H, L). G-left is only wearing some kind of headgear. like the woman in VMS 116v.
- Patients are often represented as sitting (D, H, L, K). The posture of (D) is particularly similar to that of the woman in VMS 116v.
- Less frequently, patients are represented as lying in bed (J). The closest I have found to the figure in VMS 66r might be (I), which however is different in many respects: the subject is a dressed man lying on his side. Actually, this is not the illustration of a patient, but of the correct posture in which one should sleep. One could note that this illustration does not present anything that could be interpreted as an ingredient for a medicine.
- In some cases, the patients seem to touch or point to the suffering body part (e.g. E, G-right, H). This seems to be the case also in VMS 66r.
- Often, the substances to be used in the cure are illustrated as well. In herbal illustrations, actually the ingredients are the main subject and the patients are secondary details (L, G). D illustrates the application of Peony to cure epilepsy. C features a goat, a possible parallel for VMS f116v. (J) features a bowl of soup, a possible parallel for the cylindrical container in VMS 66r (this illustration of “polte de orzo” / “barley broth” was pointed out by Rene on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.).
- Illustration (F) is of particular interest because the corresponding text is an incantation with crosses (to cure spasms). VMS 116v also seems to include an incantation with crosses.
A point for which I have no explanation is why the two marginal figures are both women (while, in most of the examples I have seen, the patients are men). Since female figures are prominent in the whole manuscript, I doubt this is a coincidence.
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - Helmut Winkler - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - MarcoP - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - bi3mw - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - Koen G - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - MarcoP - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - VViews - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - -JKP- - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - Helmut Winkler - 24-06-2017
RE: Are the illustrations in 66r and 116v related? - Helmut Winkler - 24-06-2017