> (e) Why was the VMS financially necessary for X?
I'd say that you are jumping to conclusions here... We must answer (b)
first.
If the author of the VMS was insane (as Toresella suspects), then I'd agree
that our chances of identifying him/her are remote.
However, if the author was a rational, socially functioning person, then we
can use modern historical "axes" to try to plot their influences - like
Peter Burke's social history (what job did they have? what work networks
did they function within?), financial history (what money did they need to
live? how much money did the VMS cost to make?), or art historical traditions.
For a rational person, the VMS would have been a significant investment in
terms of time, money, and resources - though quite how much of each is a
matter for proper analysis. Why was it so necessary? In MBA terms, what was
the payback?