Congealing some thoughts on folio 8v

f. 8v. Jesus and the Arma Christi

 Overall Composition  

This page is coloured red with at least 144 blood seeping wounds painted on top. A woodcut image depicting a rather bloody Jesus surrounded by the Arma Christi is superimposed on the page near (but not quite) the center. While certainly the focal point of the page, the woodcut only takes up about half of the pages space and leaves much of the bloody background visible.

It is difficult to judge the quality of the parchment (being entirely painted red...) though some small holes are visible near the edges which seemingly appear on every other page of the codex. The colouring on both the page and the woodcut is vibrant and free of blemishes.

Description of the Woodcut

The woodcut is divided into squares with the largest and most central being an image of Jesus on the cross (though he is not nailed, they instead appear in the border images) with the lance of Longinus and the holy sponge to his left and right. Above his head is the acronym INRI (ie. Jesus, King of Jews). He appears to be standing in some sort of pool, though admittedly I'm uncertain what meaning this would have. It's his tomb... Beneath Jesus in the second largest square are four lines of Latin text in Gothic script that someone has seemingly put lines through. Bordering the text and Jesus are a number of small squares with depictions of the Arma Christi. The very top and bottom center squares may relate to something other than the weapons of Christ since (at least to me) appear to be and angel (top) and Jesus interacting with another (bottom). A small margin is left around the rest of the woodcut.

Use of Colour  

The colours used on this page are red (lots of red...), blue, possibly green (at least it appears that way in the grail square), orange, brown, and much of the woodcut is left  blank to give the illusion of white. The colouring of the page itself is interesting, as the bloody wounds appear to be (it is hard to say for certain without the physical manuscript) raised above the page by use of a viscous paint. Blood droplets have been painted all over the woodcut and are particularly concentrating on Jesus, the lance and the nails likely to draw attention to them. I mentioned earlier that Jesus appears to be standing in some sort of pool; my reasoning for this is that the area is colored blue. Tombs are eerie, thus the blue. Another notable use of blue is on the face of the man sharing a square with Jesus on the very bottom which gives the character a menacing demeanour, could it be Judas?