17-04-2026, 02:37 PM
The VM parchment / vellum (what is the correct term now?) is generally of rather poor quality. If it was stolen, it was not a huge loss. I could also imagine this was given to someone for practice. Overall, the poor quality fits the poor artistic skills and overall 'provincial' feel of the VM.
Either the creator could not / did not want to spend more on higher quality material, or this was all he could acquire (by whatever means). But yes, if someone 'took' it, the disappearance of low quality sheets would raise significantly less eyebrows than 100+ premium sheets being gone. However, we do not know over which timespan and from how many sources the author acquired the sheets.
It would be interesting to investigate in which kind of environment parchment / vellum of VM quality would be most likely encountered. On one hand, the VM artist must have had access to a high level collection of imagery from different sources, something one would not expect in a poor or simple place. More from a premium workshop, university or even royal library or a wealthy collector. Remember, lavishly illuminated manuscripts were luxury products, not work books. On the other hand, the quality of the VM itself is unexpectedly low. I am still having trouble to reconcile these two facts. Poor artist in a posh place?
Either the creator could not / did not want to spend more on higher quality material, or this was all he could acquire (by whatever means). But yes, if someone 'took' it, the disappearance of low quality sheets would raise significantly less eyebrows than 100+ premium sheets being gone. However, we do not know over which timespan and from how many sources the author acquired the sheets.
It would be interesting to investigate in which kind of environment parchment / vellum of VM quality would be most likely encountered. On one hand, the VM artist must have had access to a high level collection of imagery from different sources, something one would not expect in a poor or simple place. More from a premium workshop, university or even royal library or a wealthy collector. Remember, lavishly illuminated manuscripts were luxury products, not work books. On the other hand, the quality of the VM itself is unexpectedly low. I am still having trouble to reconcile these two facts. Poor artist in a posh place?