Thanks, Huck. Not sure whether to believe Foucault. Venice might be a better idea because of its longstanding connection with carnival. Due to their lack of roads they would have had a reason to use real ships in their celebrations. Well .. Foucault's book looked well researched, but's it's too lon...

hi Al, The answer is not easy ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madness_and_Civilization Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, by Michel Foucault , is an examination of the ideas, practices, institutions, art and literature relating to madness in Western history. It is...

The Ship of Fool book was written and published in Basel. One has to assume for this time (1494) a generally increasing interest in carnival. The Carnival of Basel (German: Basler Fasnacht) is the biggest carnival in Switzerland and takes place annually between February and March in Basel. It has be...

I dont read yet, but sem interesting: The book of fortune : two hundred unpublished drawings. Author: Jehan Cousin , Ludovic Lalanne , Imbert d' Anlezy http://www.archive.org/details/bookoffortunetwo00cous Literature http://books.google.es/books?id=PGWgSab3K_IC&lpg=PA19&ots=KnT2VD7x6I&d...

I don't know, what the artist had in mind ... not each picture really refers to the text ... but ... :-) ... The ghost of Sebastian Brant definitely says NO to any alchemical relation ... http://a-tarot.eu/p/jan-11/narrschiff/alchemy.jpg Man spuert wol in der alchemy Und in des wynes artzeny Was fal...

This is from a fragmented version (fragmented by age). No, the picture is destroyed, the writing is at a second page below the picture page. Material to Fränkisches Losbuch http://www.bildindex.de/dokumente/html/obj00022941#|home Note: Not all pictures belong to the lot book. The lot book starts in ...

Pen wrote:Augury?

Pen

Yes, the theme of the picture and poem is divination, and of Fools, who are fooled by Fools. So divination with some critical distance.

http://a-tarot.eu/p/jan-11/narrschiff/1494-hanging-man.jpg This picture of Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff (1494) might remember the Italian "Hanging Man" on Trionfi cards. From the text it's clear, that the Fool is interpreted in the accompanying poem as "falling from the tree",...

Sebastian Brant: Das Narrenschiff (1494)

We see some birds between Sun and Moon at heaven. Possibly birds were also understood as planets (as it happened in the lot book)

http://www.tarot.org.il/Minchiate%20Etruria/Minchiate10.jpg Minchiate http://a.trionfi.eu/WWPCM/decks05/d02046/d0204610.jpg Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo Tarocchi, Fortune If you look very precisely, you discover the ass ears at the upper figure. Likely it refers to King Midas, who was so lucky, that any...