For over a year, I’ve been searching for a good Venetian document circa 1450-1460 that would illustrate the “parallel hatching” found in the Voynich Manuscript (particularly in the “nine rosette” map page). I knew there were examples out there, but hadn’t been able to find any.

Well: now I have…

A link from the always-interesting Daily Grail led to a November 2007 Science Mode article, which in turn led me to the American Geographical Society’s festival exhibition website, and from there to a reasonable-sized online scan of Giovanni Leardo’s 1452 mappamundi (made in Venice). Click on the four quadrants to see zoomed-in versions.

There’s much to be written on this, but for now, all I’ll say is: look at the rendering of the four prophets in the four corners, and compare them closely with the detailing on the nine rosette map page. Wonderful, fantastic, amazing – finding this made my heart miss a beat, perhaps it will excite you too…

2 thoughts on “At last, a proper art history link to the Voynich…

  1. *bump*

  2. *bump*?…Certainly made D.’s heart miss a beat; in fact a six year pausal beat, by which stage the inital jubilation of ’07, seems to have diminished in it’s intesity somewhat. The passage of time will do that to a person’s hopes and aspirations. A caution and a curse at the same time, might be a fair way to put it into proper context…with respect of course.

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