What follows is too much about
circles...
Has Sergio posted his observations to this
list at any time in the past? I am mixed on the possibility that all the
guide circles were hand traced. What is the actual process used to
"trace" a circle in this manner? Does he mean they were made from
drawing around the circumference a disc of some material?
I sense that there is a mix of those traced or
freehanded and those scribed with a compass. Take, for example, the
Pisces folio (f70v2). The outermost circle is an example which is too
perfect to have been done by hand in my opinion. Plus, it shows telltale
signs of compass use. A right handed scribe starts in the natural
position of the wrist twisted fully in its counterclockwise position (7
o'clock) and begins the arc. At the point his wrist is at its furthest
clockwise extent (2 o'clock) he picks up, repositions the compass on the
center and makes the second arc to complete the circle. The drifts (at
the top left) and at the breaks are exactly what is seen when making large
diameter circles using a compass. Smaller circles tend to be cleaner
because the artist can swivel the compass between the fingers without a stop
to reset the wrist. The same effect can be clearly seen on the outer
rings of f72r2 and 73r. If they were traced from a template, the start
and end points wouldn't have the same drift because usually
only the END of the stroke would tend to drift out as the stylus
moved off the guide. Besides, the author would have needed dozens
of templates.
My two caveats to this argument are:
1. I'm not versed in 15th century drafting and
writing implements. I'm simply working from experience.
2. I'm not sure if I'm understanding the method
of "tracing" Sergio described. I assumed he meant from a
template.
From what I observed, though, the Zodiacs (f71r
through f73v) each appears to be centered precisely to the Zodiac on the
opposite side. This makes me believe a compass was used and the
centering was deliberate. It could be coincidence or my miscalculation
of image alignment but I'm not convinced of the former.
Just a long thought
PS I'll do a complete analysis of the Zodiac
overlays soon.
Ken
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 4:09
AM
Subject: Re: VMs: How translucent is
vellum?
Hi Ken,
I guess it probably depends how much you stretch it, and
(perhaps) on the
age of the animal used to produce it. BTW, it was Sergio
Toresella who
pointed out that the VMS' vellum was very thin: he was also
sure (and he's
a very careful observer) that many of the circular diagrams
weren't
mechanically drawn, but were in fact hand-traced.
I ask because as I've been compiling the registered versions of the
>foldouts I'd flip the verso, paste it atop the recto and attempt to
align
>the two folios with distinctive features on the vellum.
What I noticed
>was this. The center of the zodiac pendants line
up in every case. OK,
>so the author used the same point to
scribe the circles. In fact, if I'm
>not mistaken the center
point is easily seen on f73r and f71v. But what
>is also
interesting is that there are only a few instances where a ring of
>text overlaps the ring on the verso. What you see is many
concentric
>rings of text. Also, (and this may just be giddy hope
of having
>discovered something) many of the maidens appear to be
holding the same star.
Interesting! Can you please catalogue the places
where this happens & post
your results to the list?
.