Re: Sola-Busca riddles

11
mikeh wrote: I will correct it immediately. Did I raise a problem due to this?
No.
Huck wrote
I don't understand your "And if 8 was secure in the first row, than 14 is secure in the third row (as Justice)." Who thinks so?
I think so. What I meant was that if 8 is the Hanged Man, then 14 is Justice. The only thing that makes 14 insecure is doubt about her assignment of Hanged Man to it. If it isn't Hanged Man, it should be Justice, because of the look on the man's face, and that nothing else would fit Justice.
Alright. I think, that some of the usual cards are simply not presented (mainly virtues and the 4 Papi), so naturally 14 needs not be Justice.
There is a kind of intrinsic vagueness here regarding all the cards normally represented by females in this all male sequence, thus the virtue cards as well as the "papi" (including the male ones, because we don't know which is which).
Well, that's my point, it simply doesn't contain these objects. The figures are all male, and apparently there are often enough rather sexual pictures, possibly a homosexual code. One cannot simply explain this all away with "alchemy".
Huck wrote,
What I think is, that a specific use of trumps in a 5th indepenentvsuit might have been possibly in use in Lucca very early, and the idea might have triggered similar playing cards experiments in Florence after 1438. For Lucca possibly a deck with a 5x13 structure, which was later modified in Florence and possibly modified in Lucca to 4x14+13.
"Very early", with no affect on Florence or Bologna except to "trigger simialr playing cards experiments" but not particular cards or sequences or parts of sequences, just a "structure" somewhat like your hypothesized 5x14 structure, but one card less per suit. And your basis is something in Lucca three centuries later (although I think maybe half that), no trace in between, which you say is a modification of the original "structure", whileusing cards from Minchiate. I find that immensely speculative, but I will keep it in mind.
I find it rather strange, that something "similar to the Lucca Tarocchi" appeared more than 200 years before the common note about the Lucca Tarocchi (c. 1700), so a speculation about the year 1438 isn't very far. And the other Lucca relation to Tarot, the suspicious Prince Fibbia, speaks of 1419.
Thanks for the explanation of what "detecting fire" was. There are 3 fires (out of 5 cards) in your first "insecure" row, and 2 at most in the second. Since all flame-like things are counting as fire, even if they are not painted red (incompetent painter?), I count 3 fires also in your first "secure" row (8 has one definitely, 12 one that could be a fire or a plant). It is true that there are none in your second "secure" row.
Yes, there is a lot of fire in all the trumps, and there are a lot of men, and not women. Both features are rather manifest, and one shouldn't overlook them.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

12
Huck wrote,
I think, that some of the usual cards are simply not presented (mainly virtues and the 4 Papi), so naturally 14 needs not be Justice.
That's where I agree with Gnaccolini: the Sola-Busca is not as eccentric as it appears. If the majority of the cards correspond to the standard subjects, and the others more or less vaguely suggest the others, despite all having males, then probably they are all standard subjects. Justice and Temperance are quite vague; Fortitude has the column.

Huck wrote
The figures are all male, and apparently there are often enough rather sexual pictures, possibly a homosexual code. One cannot simply explain this all away with "alchemy".
...
Yes, there is a lot of fire in all the trumps, and there are a lot of men, and not women. Both features are rather manifest, and one shouldn't overlook them.
It is hard to overlook that the trumps are all males. That presents a challenge. I do not invoke "alchemy" as an explanation of the trump sequence. If some alchemical sequence is there, it is well hidden. I don't see much sexuality either, not enough to constitute a code. The only code that I see is in how all of them relate to the standard subjects.

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

13
Similar as in the analyse of the Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo Tarocchi, where you have, that 13 of 14 cards painted by the first painter fall in the box of the numbers of 0-13 of the common tarot, one may conclude, that in the Sola-Busca the selection of recognizable cards and not recognizable cards form a mathematical pattern (0-1 .. 4-5 .. 8-9 .. 12-13 ... 16-17 .. 20-21), where it becomes difficult to assume, that this is based just on accident.
Naturally one may conclude, that the exceptions 7 Chariot and Panfilio as replacement somehow confuse, as in the PBM the 20 for Judgment and the missing Fortitudo are confusing, but nonetheless the whole is strong enough to assume, that there is a not accidental relation between Sola-Busca and the selection of trumps in the Lucca Tarocchi, bridging in this appearance a time from more than 200 years. It's close to be "just a fact", although the evaluation method, what's recognizable and what's not, naturally has its weaknesses.

If you've a roulette table with black and red numbers, the probability that you have 10 times "red" is 1:1024 (if you play without zero). The Sola-Busca Tarocchi / Lucca Tarocchi question one might be in similar improbability dimensions, at least a "below 1%" seems very plausible. And this "below 1%" is a rather strong argument.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

14
A specific picture of a person with a snail helmet was claimed as evidence for the assumption, that the Nicola di maestro Antonio had been the painter of the Sola Busca. It appeared in the exhibition catalog, as far I got it.

The same picture appeared in one of my posts some years ago at AT, based on an article of Mark J. Zucker.

"Snail helmet / Sola-Busca and Leber Tarocchi"
02-04-2009
http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t= ... ight=snail
Huck wrote:In the article

"The Master of the "Sola-Busca Tarocchi" and the Rediscovery of Some Ferrarese Engravings of the 15th century"
by Mark J. Zucker
Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 18, No. 35 (1997), pp. 181-194
Published by: IRSA s.c.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483546?1

the author Mark J. Zucker presents various engravings, from which he assumes, that they possibly were produced by the unknown artist, who was responsible for the Sola-Busca Tarocchi ... the arguments are given on the base of stylish similarities.

Between these pictures is one, which shows a man with a "snail helmet" ....

The author Mark Zucker seems to be not aware, that another Tarocchi set exists, which also uses the "snail helmet" ... it's on the Fool card of the Leber Tarocchi. In the picture, which is assumed to be produced by the Sola Busca engraver the snail-head is at the backside and the image is a portrait, in the picture of the Leber Tarocchi the snail head is at the front and the fool is presented with full body, but the appearance is similar. The habitus of the portrait might be called "foolish" (the man has a rather extravagant nose and a putto is climbing on top of the helmet) ...

Image


The relevant picture of the Fool of the Leber Tarocchi in a nice reproduction of Leber looked this way:

Image


In a bad copy of the original it's this picture:

Image


Leber's reconstruction shows not the strange "8"s, which are probably painted on the original. It's our suspicion, that these are meant to be bees. Fools with bees around them (indicating honey-stealing) are motifs for German engravers ca. 1540.

Zucker gives as Sola-Busca reference (his reason to assume an identity of the engraver) the Baton-4 (as an example) ...

Image


********

The detection might lead to the (plausible, but not totally secure) idea, that Sola-Busca and Leber Tarocchi were engraved by the same artist.

But ... naturally the similarity might also have the reason of a lower graded relationship: one engraver copied the other or was influenced by the other ... or a snail helmet was simply a common motif ... or it refers to a general joke, and both artists contributed in their individual design without any personal interaction between them.

In the question of the "unknown artist" Zucker mentions ...

Artist in the circle of Cosimo Tura (opinion Arthur M. Hind)
Tura's follower (opinion of Giordani Berti and Marzia Faietti)
Tura himself (Konrad Oberhuber)
Franco de' Russi (J. Byarn Shaw)
Marco Zoppo (Eberhard Ruhmer)

Zucker himself sees relationships to the "generation between Tura and Zoppo", but also to Amico Aspertini and Lodovico Mazzolino, also he mentions Peregrino da Cesena and Gianfrancesco Enzola.

In his reflections Zucker doesn't mention the year "1491" as probably production year and it's apparent, that he doesn't know about it. Also he doesn't note anything about the persons Ercole d'Este and Savonarola in the deck ... knowledge about this would have probably excluded his suggestions for the artist Gianfrancesco Enzola.

General informations to Sola Busca and Leber Tarocchi:

http://trionfi.com/0/h/51/ ... Leber Tarocchi
http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/solabusca/ ... Sola Busca Tarocchi

*****
btw. the strange inscription "Velim Fundam Dari Mihi", translated by Ross with "I wish the purse to be given to me", might explain, that the card of the fool was connected to "luck in the game" or to lucky points, which in their final consequence had the result, that the player with Fool card had higher chances in the game (as it appears in rules, which are known only from later times).

btw. "snails" are considered to present "wisdom", at least at the Sebaldusgrab in Nurremberg, relatively contemporary, but at another location.
Perhaps we have to interprete, that the snails below the helmet are considered to present "leaving snails", as Fools are left by wisdom.
After the posting there was some discussion (see weblink). Finally I added this post, which possibly of interest:

hi AJ* and all others, thanks for your friendly attention. ... :-) ... it's occasionally good to know, that not everything is for the waste basket.
I understand, that the topics are occasionally rather specified here, so it's really difficult to say anything to it. But I may reassure you, that we've also a heart for beginners in the theme and would (..:--) ... at least occasionally react on questions).

The following aims at the dating problem of the Sola-Busca Tarocchi. In the starting article I mentioned something about Ercole d'Este and Savonarola in the deck ...

Image


Image


It's obvious, that Savonarola "somehow" is good recognizable, although a white cloak at the head is a little unusual.
Ercole is difficult, I personally know of no portrait, at which he likely would be this man.

Image


Image



*****
We made some longer researches about the Sola Busca context and found the following most promising.

*****
Arthur M. Hind (specialist on early Italian engraving) in 1938 gives this comment on the 2-of-cups card:
"The two engraved profile heads ... present an attractive field of conjecture. Allowing the design to be Ferrarese of 1491, or not much earlier, it would be natural to accept the upper head as that of Ercole d'Este, but the identity is far from convincing apart from preconceptions of the origin of the cards. Whether it be Ercole or not, he is represented in the guise of a Roman Emperor in laurel wreath. The lower head presents a superficial resemblance to Savonarola, whose connexion with Ferrara might account for his appearance here, but the lower lip does not protrude like Savonarola's. On the whole I think the soilution for the identity of both both portaits must be looked for elsewhere. The contrast of Roman Emperor and Venetian Doge would be an apt form of decoration, though the cap is not strictly that of a Doge, but more typical of a student."
So Hind parts our own impression, that there is something wrong with the recognition of Savonarola and Ercole d'Este. And Hind turns his head towards that, what is clearly given in the handcolored version of the Sola Busca:

The deck is made in Ferrarese style, but the inscription points to Venice and to the year 1491. The dating is only handcoloured and this specific version is only in existence by a photography, the deck itself is lost. It's shown by comparition with real existing prints of the Sola Busca elsewhere (the Vienna edition), that occasionally in the handpainted version printed details have disappeared by the colors.
In the question, if the both heads on the 2-of-cups were only "handpainted" or really printed, there seems to be only a photography and no possible way to explore this detail.

From the viewing point of the engraving production it would have been logical to leave the place of both portraits free to fill it with handpainted portraits of the possible owner of the deck (which the engraver didn't know at the time of production). Similar behaviour could be seen in the use of engravings in book production. Heraldic devices were created in a neutral way and left free for the addition of familiary details of the exspected future unknown owner.

So we cannot rely on "Ercole d'Este" and "Savonarola".

SUCCESS
********
However - specifially by the assumption, that the Sola Busca was in its "Venetian outfit" individualised by handcoloring - we may ask, what happened 1491 in Venice. And that research was surprizingly successful.
********

Ercole d'Este visited Venice in 1485, 1488 and 1491. The most glamorous moment was in 1491.

*1485 - this was a triumphal event, which celebrated the new peace between Venice and Ferrara, in which Venice had won and Ferrara more or lesss lost. A tournament took place, and the organizer was the general Roberto Sanseverino.

* 1488, Febrary - this seems to have been a short visit to welcome the new doge Agostino Barbarigo, a political meeting. Ercole was accompanied by his son Alfonso, 12 years old. Probably for both sides a reassurance of the general peace after some wars in Southern Italy.

* 1488- 1491 - In the following years we have some additional informations, which might refer to the problem of the correct date in the form of a small series of 3 dates of allowances of Trionfi games (and all from cities, which belong to the political region Venetia in this time): 1488, 1489 and 1491.
http://trionfi.com/0/e/39/

The allowances for the Trionfi game of Brescia 1488, Salo at the Lago di Garda 1489 and Bergamo 1491 are all very near to each other in time; they fall in time together with the assumption, that a specific deck, the Sola Busca Tarocchi, was produced in Venice in the year 1491. Another point joins all 3 cities: Brescia, Salo and Bergamo all belong to the Venetian republic in this time, all near to each other in the Western region of the state, near to Milan.
A logical conclusion would be, that Trionfi cards were prohibited in all the Venetian republic before, but started to become allowed or reallowed.

A logical reason or this politic might have been, that the war between Ferrara and Venice 1482 - 1484 caused a contemporary prohition of the game - if this is true, the 3 new allowances in Venetian cities might indicate, that the Ferrarese region was a major producer of the Trionfi decks and that a prohibition of the game in the Venetian region might have caused difficulties in the adversary state.

Another possibility it is, although perhaps less probable, that Trionfi as game was never allowed in the Venetian region .... perhaps according to a local perception in Venice, that the whole fashion of the Trionfi movement was regarded as not conform with the ideas of the Republic. The war between Venice and Milano till 1454 was a long one, perhaps the antipathy between the states was still strong long years after it, and the old trouble raised ccasionally its head (for instance in the time of Galeazzo Maria Sorza).
The allowance for the Trionfi started at the Western border of Venetia, near to Milan. Perhaps there is the indication, that the Trionfi cards (and the related game) invaded the region from Milan.


There are reasons to assume, that Venetia hadn't Trionfi card decks and possibly even prohibited them, perhaps already since 1441, when the Venetian Senatus made a law, which should protect the local card producers. Trionfi cards with Emperors etc. possibly weren't attractive in a republic (Venice and Venetia didn't belong to the Roman-German Empire and the general Trionfi customs were in the republican evaluation possibly connected to "high nobility" and this was "their" customs and not really "Venetian").
This probably long and old Venetian politic seems to have melted away between 1488-1491, after the Ferrarese war, in which Venice had been the major enemy of Ferrara.
Generally it's also stated by neutral art historians, that Venice till ca. 1490 didn't partake too much in the general form of "Trionfi activities".

* 1491, April - this is the probable moment of the Sola Busca Tarocchi, Ercole d'Este visited Venice accompanied by his son Alfonso d'Este. In contrast to 1488 this is a "great moment", as Alfonso, the heir of Ferrara, is now grown up - and more than this, he had married short before (January/February) with great festivities, the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan, Anna Sforza.
Considering the long wars between Venice and Milan this was a "dangerous marriage" from the perspective of Venice, and the visit had to reassure the wish for peace again.
Alfonso's (15 years old) journey to Venice is comparable to Bianca Maria Sforza's journey to Ferrara in 1440/41 (Bianca 16 years old), to Galeazzo Maria Sforza journeys since 1457 (Galeazzo 13 years old) and Lorenzo de Medici's journey in 1465 (Lorenzo 15 years old) ... all great events and all connected to Trionfi card productions (for 1441 with some insecurity and 1457 this is proven by document and for 1465 this is assumed cause many reasons by Trionfi.com).

The new engraving technique might have made it possible, that Alfonso distributed some Trionfi playing card decks in Venice, naturally as a part of Ferrarese cultural propaganda and natural guest presents, also it would been logical, if he used the marriage deck from his own wedding for this reason. In the real marriage deck the two of cups probably would have been filled with Alfonso and Anna Sforza, his new wife.
In the Venetian version, however, thought as a present for foreign persons, probably was shown Alfonso (not Ercole) and a free place, which could be filled with the new owner of the deck.

The young Cesar with laurel at the top of the card has a beard ... and pictures of Ercole d'Este never showed the person with beard, also I don't know pictures of Leonello d'Este and Borso d'Este with beard. This whole generation seems to have prefered a shaved face.
The pictures of Alfonso, son of Ercole, showed always a strong beard, rather vital dark hair, as it is often seen by persons from South European countries. An already stronger beard with 15 years is possible for persons with this descendance. Alfonso's genetic influence came from the family of Leonora, who got it from Alfonso of Aragon, a Spanish line is decipherable.

Image


One should observe, that the portrait at the two-of-disks showed a flat nose and compare this with the nose above and two other portraits at this page ...

http://www.kleio.org/de/geschichte/stam ... a/650.html

A detail of the wedding is described here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=JagWeI ... #PPA134,M1

... which is too short and missing details, it is obvious, that there were many other festivities, between them also theatre activities, which alone filled 3 evenings with 3 works:

http://books.google.com/books?id=-LQ6AA ... 1-PA303,M1

It was given

1. "Menaechmi" from Plautus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menaechmi
(already given at 25th of January 1486, at Ferrara's first great theatre event, again given in Milan 1493 by Ercole's ensemble)
2. "Andria" from Terence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andria_(comedy)
3. "Amphitrione" from Plautus (in the version of Pandolfo Collenuccio)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphitryon_(play)
(this work was already given at 26th of January 1487 - marriage of Lucrezia d'Este)

The second work, "Andria" knows a hero named "Pamphilus" ... the name is interpreted as from 'pan' and 'philos', a "friend to all".
In the story Pamphilus is "Simo's son publicly betrothed to Philumena but privately promised to Glycerium".

In the Sola Busca Tarocchi all the trumps more or less have their "probable identity" in generally known Roman heroes.
Exceptions are the figure of Panfilio at the important position of the magician, naturally also the Matto at the also important position of the Fool at the begin (position 0 and 1) and further Nenbroto and Nebukadnezar, Babylonian Emperors (at the finishing positions 20 + 21), probably understood as an evil and dangerous influence of the East.

(In the rules of Tarot, as far they are known, usually the cards 0, 1 and 21 have special function, occasionally also the group 0-1-20-21 with the inclusion of the 20. The iconography of the Sola Busca seems to express this idea).

Image


Although "Andria" is noted to have been shown at the school of Fra Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (uncle of the explorer Amerigo Vespucchi) in 1476 in Florence as one of the earliest experiments with public theatre, it seems to have been a novelty in Ferrara in 1491, in contrast to the both other works.

The 3rd piece, which has as topic the "birth of Hercules", is apparently aiming at Ercole d'Este, Alfonso's father, cause the name, so it may be concluded, that it was intended to honour Alfonso specifical with the second work "Andria" and the hero "Pamphilus" ... if we assume, that the Sola Busca was the marriage deck of Alfonso, the figure of Panfilio in the deck gets a new face.


And finally ... :-) ... another charming detail: The father of Pamphilus in Terence' work is "Simo", an Athenian nobleman. This is interpreted as "From 'simos', flat-nosed" ... at least in the Wikipedia article.
Last edited by Huck on 10 Jul 2016, 16:51, edited 1 time in total.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

15
A snail is at home wherever it goes: "Home is where I lay my hat" might be a motto for a mercenary (I wish the purse be given me)*

;)

SteveM

I thought it (Velim Fundam Dari Mihi) meant 'I would like the bottom to be given me' :)

With all those 'flies' perhaps fundam is related to 'casting-net'? Probably more useful to him than the abundance of weapons he has with him, armed for every contingency, except flies.

Or perhaps, not happy with all the weapons he has, wants yet another (funda as 'sling').

Didn't know 'funda' meant purse, but searching I find it is used for a purse or bag made of fine netting, same as a reticule [funda; marsupium reticulatum; a net-purse].

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

17
Huck wrote
Similar as in the analyse of the Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo Tarocchi, where you have, that 13 of 14 cards painted by the first painter fall in the box of the numbers of 0-13 of the common tarot, one may conclude, that in the Sola-Busca the selection of recognizable cards and not recognizable cards form a mathematical pattern (0-1 .. 4-5 .. 8-9 .. 12-13 ... 16-17 .. 20-21), where it becomes difficult to assume, that this is based just on accident.
Naturally one may conclude, that the exceptions 7 Chariot and Panfilio as replacement somehow confuse, as in the PBM the 20 for Judgment and the missing Fortitudo are confusing, but nonetheless the whole is strong enough to assume, that there is a not accidental relation between Sola-Busca and the selection of trumps in the Lucca Tarocchi, bridging in this appearance a time from more than 200 years. It's close to be "just a fact", although the evaluation method, what's recognizable and what's not, naturally has its weaknesses.

If you've a roulette table with black and red numbers, the probability that you have 10 times "red" is 1:1024 (if you play without zero). The Sola-Busca Tarocchi / Lucca Tarocchi question one might be in similar improbability dimensions, at least a "below 1%" seems very plausible. And this "below 1%" is a rather strong argument.
Yes, there is a pattern, and it is not accidental. The question is, why is it a pattern? I say the pattern is caused by the difficulty of identifying the virtue cards and the "papi", due to its being an all-male sequence. These constitute most of the cards that are in the first 9 of the usual sequence, not counting the first two, as you say. That's most of it, and explains the correspondence between those cards in the SB and the missing cards of the Lucca deck. What remains to be explained is why those cards were distributed in the SB sequence the way they were. Whatever the explanation, I cannot imagine that Lucca had anything to do with it.
Last edited by mikeh on 08 Sep 2014, 23:03, edited 2 times in total.

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

18
On the 2 of Coins in relation to the owner of the Sola-Busca hand-painted version, here is what I wrote about Gnaccolini's view on this issue (viewtopic.php?f=11&t=988&p=14716&hilit=olivo#p14716). It occurs immediately after the identification of Sanudo's stemmas on the cards:
Sanudo is documented as commissioning work by Marco Zoppo, whose style is similar to that of the cards, and had hermetic interests as well as in fostering the printing trade. (Another possibility she mentions is Marco Sanudo, his cousin.) Also, the identification of the two persons on the 2 of Coins as Ercole d'Este and Michele Savonarola fits that family. His father represented Venice in Ferrara at the right time, 1457-59, to have known this physician and pioneer in the use of metallic salts to treat illness (and so an "alchemist" broadly defined). Ercole, born 1431, would have known Savonarola (grandfather of the more famous one) both before his training in Naples (1145-1460)and at the end of Savonarola's life, d. 1468. But the portrait appears modeled on a Roman coin of Caligula.
The only 15th century depiction of him I could find on the web doesn't look much like the man on the card. http://www.liquida.it/michele-savonarol ... 1_17689528. But that's in a Ferrarese manuscript. And actually it probably isn't him, but rather a portrait of the illuminator ( http://www.granger.com/results.asp?inli ... width=1016). I expect that the artist of the card didn't know what Michele looked like and so made him look like his son, but with a hat more appropriate for a physician.

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

19
Huck wrote:A specific picture of a person with a snail helmet was claimed as evidence for the assumption, that the Nicola di maestro Antonio had been the painter of the Sola Busca. It appeared in the exhibition catalog, as far I got it.

The same picture appeared in one of my posts some years ago at AT, based on an article of Mark J. Zucker.

"Snail helmet / Sola-Busca and Leber Tarocchi"
02-04-2009
http://tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t= ... ight=snail
If Venetian, why not also consider a follower of Giovanni Bellini? Not a helmet, but....
Image

Re: Sola-Busca riddles

20
mikeh wrote:On the 2 of Coins in relation to the owner of the Sola-Busca hand-painted version, here is what I wrote about Gnaccolini's view on this issue (viewtopic.php?f=11&t=988&p=14716&hilit=olivo#p14716). It occurs immediately after the identification of Sanudo's stemmas on the cards:
Sanudo is documented as commissioning work by Marco Zoppo, whose style is similar to that of the cards, and had hermetic interests as well as in fostering the printing trade. (Another possibility she mentions is Marco Sanudo, his cousin.) Also, the identification of the two persons on the 2 of Coins as Ercole d'Este and Michele Savonarola fits that family. His father represented Venice in Ferrara at the right time, 1457-59, to have known this physician and pioneer in the use of metallic salts to treat illness (and so an "alchemist" broadly defined). Ercole, born 1431, would have known Savonarola (grandfather of the more famous one) both before his training in Naples (1145-1460)and at the end of Savonarola's life, d. 1468. But the portrait appears modeled on a Roman coin of Caligula.
The only 15th century depiction of him I could find on the web doesn't look much like the man on the card. http://www.liquida.it/michele-savonarol ... 1_17689528. But that's in a Ferrarese manuscript. And actually it probably isn't him, but rather a portrait of the illuminator ( http://www.granger.com/results.asp?inli ... width=1016). I expect that the artist of the card didn't know what Michele looked like and so made him look like his son, but with a hat more appropriate for a physician.
I think, that the lower figure might be the young Alfonso d'Este. Ercole d'Este wasn't shown with beard, Alfonso cultivated it.
Alfonso was in 1491 rather young for a beard, but some persons develop early. I don't know, if there are other representations of him at this age. And there's s the feature of a flat nose.

Coins of Caligula
https://www.google.de/search?q=coin+cal ... CAYQ_AUoAQ
I don't detect similarity.
Huck
http://trionfi.com