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Hi Genevra,
Thanks for having a look. You're quite right, of course. I saw
some long index fingers (particularly Lady Bertilak's) and got
excited, but looking at the other illustrations, I see what you're
saying. Intentional crossed fingers would be much more obvious.
At least I have that votive hand!
Steve
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Steve, I think that you are asking more of the MS image than it has to give. The hands are never very sharply defined. Still, look at the other hands in the same manuscript, as nicely illustrated in the McGillivray and Duffy link. The index finger is indeed normally longer than the other fingers on any hand, supporting the interpretation of finger crossing on your folio, where it is shorter. But look at other hands in figs. 5-6 and 16-18 (where Arthur also appears to have one finger of his left hand bent behind another). You always need to establish the immediate context before interpreting a visual image, just as you would for a textual one.
In any case, thanks for an interesting thread!
best,
Genevra
On 7/23/2018 10:44 AM, Stephen Barker wrote:[log in to unmask]" type="cite"><snip>********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religion
All that's interesting enough, but my question is about the illustration (it's on the truce-term Wikipedia page or in higher definition at the University of Calgary). Does the illustration of Gawain claiming the right to take on the green knight show him with crossed fingers? He's upper left in red with an axe and a raised hand, opposite Arthur and co. It looks to me like his index finger is hiding a bit behind his middle finger, but it could be my wishful thinking. They look more obviously crossed in this infrared version from Murray McGillivray and Christina Duffy, "New Light on the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Manuscript: Multispectral Imaging and the Cotton Nero A.x. Illustrations (2017)." [no pay-walls on any of these links]
All best,
Steve
