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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture 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 On 7/23/2018 12:57 PM, Genevra Kornbluth wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > 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: >> <snip> >> >> All that's interesting enough, but my question is about the >> illustration (it's on the truce-term Wikipedia page or in higher >> definition >> <http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/gawain/id/289/rec/108> >> 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 >> <https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/na101/home/literatum/publisher/uchicago/journals/content/spc/2017/spc.2017.92.issue-s1/693361/20171002/images/large/fg18.jpeg> >> 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 >> <https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/693361#> (2017)." >> [no pay-walls on any of these links] >> >> All best, >> >> Steve >> >> > ********************************************************************** > 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 ********************************************************************** 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