Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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Hi Steve

My synthesis of the question...

Isabella d'Este: Marchioness of Mantua 1474-1539 a Study of the Renaissance Vol. 1
On the Marchesa's return home, the alarming increase of the plague compelled her to leave Mantua and take her children to the villa of Sacchetta, where they spent the summer months. Here, on her birthday, the 16th of May, she received a present of exceptional interest in the shape of a treatise, composed by Mario Equicola, on her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu.

The Marchesa, as we have already seen, in common with most Italian lords and ladies of the age, was in the habit of adopting special devices and mottoes. The musical notes which gave expression to her love of music, the candelabra bearing the motto Sufficit unum in tenebris which Paolo Giovio suggested, and which were embroidered in gold on her festal robes, may still be seen among the decorations of her camerini at Mantua. There too, inscribed in quaint characters, we may read the words of her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu, by which she expressed that serene equanimity and philosophic frame of mind to which she aspired, neither elated by hope nor cast down by fear. She chose this motto for her own as early as 1504, when, at the request of her friend Margherita Cantelma, she gave one of the Imperial ambassadors who visited Mantua and Ferrara gracious permission to use the words in writing and in his armorial bearings and on the liveries of his servants, "we ourselves," she wrote at the time, "being the inventor of this motto, and having adopted it as our peculiar device." In the following autumn Mario Equicola, the Calabrian secretary of Margherita Cantelma, who had followed her and Sigismondo to Ferrara, and was often employed by the Este princes, wrote from Blois to inform Isabella that he had written a book on this device, and only awaited her permission to publish the work.

"Most illustrious Lady, -- It was the custom of ancient authors to seek for noble and excellent subjects in order to render their works immortal. Signora mia, although I am only a poor man of letters, I thank God, who has allowed me to serve Your Excellency, from whose rare talents and lively wit I hope some of my writings may acquire fame and authority. In this firm hope, I have composed a book of some forty sheets, in interpretation of Nec spe nec metu, making mention of the words on every page. In the said book I introduce discussions on the meaning of this motto, which will show Your Signory the methods of ancient poetry, philosophy, and theology, connecting Nec Nec nec metu with each in turn, and praising this motto above all others ever composed. I beg you to give me leave to publish and print this little work, and if you wish, will send it to you before it is published. I await your pleasure, certifying that the twenty-seven chapters on this inscription are nearly finished, after which I will illustrate the musical signs."

Mario had apparently divided his book into twenty-seven paragraphs, in allusion to the mystic number XXVIL., vinte sette, another device adopted by Isabella, which, we learn from Paolo Giovio, signified that all the sects (sette) of her enemies were conquered (vinte). Isabella readily gave the desired permission, and the book, printed and bound in elegant covers, was presented to her by Margherita Cantelma on her next birthday. "Your letter and the book which Madonna Margherita sent us," wrote Isabella in reply, "are a more delightful birthday present than any gift of gold or other precious things,since you have thereby exalted our little device to sublime heights."


Mario Equicola Nec spe nec metu. Dialogus ad Iulianum Medicem (Mantua: Francesco Bruschi, 1513)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Equicola

He presents the Book in 1505 and Isabelle replies only in 1506. It is edited in 1513

He invoques also Prudencia Hope Fortuna and Fate...

About Isabelle d'Este claim to be the inventor and that her Motto should be kept secret
https://books.google.fr/books?id=XvCTFZ ... to&f=false

"Isabelle considered in no uncertain terms, that the motto was a distillation of her own rather than forming part of a long, classical tradition and thought up by other people".

We now know that it was, in it's origin, Cicero's Stoic principle for magistrators of Rome.
The lines come from Cicero, who observed that the magistrates of Rome should be overcome
neque terror nec vis, nec spes nec metus, nec promissa nec minae, nec tela nec faces
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nec_spe_nec_metu

It will become Isabelle d'Este Motto.

But , if the datation of the Goldsmith was early XVIth century, there would be no real problem to accept Shepard and Huck hypothesis.
BUT ...there is a problem of datation , at least for the Goldsmith -apart that Isabelle d'Este Motto is not on any of the remaining cards of the Goldsmith - between mid-XVth century (datation estimation) and beginning XVIth century...
Isabelle is born on May 20 1474 à Ferrare!
The datation of the Goldsmidt is relatively sure
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=691&start=10#p16385
and
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=691&start=10#p16386


The Goldschmidt cards the old diagnosis "mid 15th century" (Goldschmidt and the Doerner institute), and "mid 15th century" is rather far away from 1512


Nota Bene: the question arises of why is there debate about a Motto that is not in the Goldsmidt ?

The Dasara thesis and the use of the Motto of Isabelle d'Este

Image


Image

Image




1. John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=691&start=40#p17783

Yet he admitsthat two of the cards carrie devises of dauphin or of Dauphiné so there seems to havebeen a French connection he conneects with Charles VIII oe Louis XII.

2. Huck :
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=691&start=40#p17783

Already John Shephard took the position, that the Goldschmidt cards would be later. Also he had noted, that the motto of Isabella d'Este "nec spe nec metu" had importance for the dating.

He had the information, that Isabella d'Este stated, that she had invented the motto earlier (before 1504) ... and he speculates, that the date might have done 1490-1504. I don't have this information.


For the two V-S-decks, which contain a Visconti viper (Bartsch and Rosenthal), I assume, that they should have been made after 1505, the time, when Isabella d'Este adopted the motto "nec spes, nec metu" (which appears at one card, Ace of cups). Actually I go so far to say, that this deck was developed under the influence of Isabella d'Este, who arranged the crowning festivities for Massimiliano Sforza in 1512 (the deck likely made at this opportunity). I've written about this at another location ...

See also the complete thesis :
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1102&start=390#p17776






?
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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I like the idea of "crowned dauphin", Alain. That leaves out Louis XII, who was never a dauphin. and Francis I, also never dauphin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dauphin_of_France). Besides Louis XI, that still leaves Charles VIII, a dauphin crowned in 1483, died 1498. Other cards in the set also suggest Charles: the lady at the kneeler (see http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a9xTS5mMhuw/V ... hmidt1.jpg) strongly resembles a c. 1472 painting of Charlotte of Savoy (1441-1483), Charles"s mother, at a kneeler (shown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Savoy); the lady on the card is not likely a 20 year old. And the lady with the castle could be Anne of Brittany, who brought her independent duchy into the French orbit by marrying Charles in 1491, which is also when he assumed power at age 21. Charlotte would have learned how to play tarot from her aunt Marie of Savoy, after the latter's return home from Milan around 1450, and passed it on to her children (as well as her husband). There seems to a connection between these cards and the Milan tarot: in particular, the bishop with his anchor is like the Cary-Yale Hope card (with its anchor) or the PMB Star card (whose star is where the anchor is in the Goldschmidt).

The card dating was done by pigment analysis, which dates a painting by determining when a particular pigment was produced, usually an approximate date range. Even then, it are mostly good for providing a date when a painting could not have been produced before, as paints can continue to be produced and especially used after the approximate date it went out of fashion. It would be nice to know more details of the dating process. The cards, as well as the painting, may have been produced by a painter from Savoy, Charlotte's home, which would lead to the idea that the deck was from Provence. But I am no expert on telling Provencale, Burgundian, and French painting apart at that time.

I fail to see the relevance of the motto. The Rosenthal is either some 19th century forger's idea or copies of cards now lost which have a certain stylistic affinity with the Goldschmidt. The V & A cards also have some stylistic affinity, too, related to the Milan cards. But that's all. There were probably numerous luxury decks north and west of Milan, in one court or another, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Your idea of the coronation in Milan is a good one, Alain.

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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mikeh wrote: I don't see why Isabella need have been first in using the quotation from Cicero. In search of a good motto, she could have asked around, and someone remembered it.
It is unlikely, that a common word sequence meaning "neither hope nor fear" never was used, (it's really not necessary, that Isabella took it from Cicero). For our interest it's only of interest, if somebody before her took it as motto or selected it as another "dominant expression" (for instance a proverb or - as it was at the ace of cups - a sentence used for a toast), in the manner, that there was a reason to place it on the Trionfi card. This didn't come to the surface after some research, in contrast we hear, that she herself invented it and a writer selected it even as title of a book in her honor.
From this the conclusion seems justified, that the specific Sforza cards weren't done before 1504/1505. That's all, what interests us, I guess.

Stephen mentioned:
He presented the book in manuscript form as a gift to Isabel d'Este in 1505, taking her motto for its title.

In the dialogue Baptista Mantuanus ( (17 April 1447 – 20 March 1516) says:

"The schools of theology accept that the stars have influence somewhat on the body but not over free will; Virtue is therefore free and not in any way subject to necessity. Virtue therefore, being free, neither raging hope nor fear can inhibit it. By divine counsel, whosoever would speak about Fate should rightly hear what Augustine has to say on the subject. Through this [fate] our liberty is in no way endangered; that is, we are free from hope and from fear."*

(These are also two of the four passions of the soul in Boiardo's tarocchi poem.)
Boiardo used the word "timore" instead of "metu", but this seems to mean the same. In this context it's of interest, that the Boiardo deck was likely printed around 1497 at the court of Elisabetta Gonzaga in Urbino, and Elisabetta was a very close friend of Isabella (also she was her sister-in-law). Both had married in the same year 1489 and one can read, that they often had opportunity to spend some time together.
Education in Ferrara in the late 1480s had strong feminist tendencies ("women are better than man"), testified by the of Bartolomeo Goggio ...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861116?se ... b_contents
... and - ALSO - the Boiardo Tarocchi.
"Neither hope nor fear" sounds very male, not female, at least in 15/16th century. The later career of Isabella as woman of much influence demonstrates the result ...


https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article ... aucht.html
(according the text the left picture was recently discovered, and taken as a work of Leonardo da Vinci)
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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"in claiming to be the inventor Isabella was not at all denying that she was recyling a classical commonplace found in various guisesin Seneca and Lucian's Demonax... the originality of a renaissance invention can lie in "finding" a new context or application for something familiar or well known." (Campbell, p.78)

Equicola wrote an erudite treatise on her motto, to which Isabelle wrote to a friend that she had not "considered her own motto in such committed terms...: from the heights of his genius he has raised up a motto which was never conceived by us with all the mysteris which he ascribes to it; nonetheless we consider him as you do, that he deserves to be proffered the highest commendation and thanks." (ibid)

In relation to the four passions, or perhaps even in reference to Boiardo's poem (which is likely she had a copy from Boiardo himself, from whatever period it was written), it is possible to read or complete the motto as implying "without hope and without fear", but "with love and jeolousy"! (Though public persona would be to represent virtue, in private it is known she was hardly the epitome of stoic virtue, but had in fact a tempestuous spirit.)

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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Huck wrote: For our interest it's only of interest, if somebody before her took it as motto or selected it as another "dominant expression" (for instance a proverb or - as it was at the ace of cups - a sentence used for a toast), in the manner, that there was a reason to place it on the Trionfi card. This didn't come to the surface after some research, in contrast we hear, that she herself invented it and a writer selected it even as title of a book in her honor.

According to Campbell, p78, the motto had previously been adopted by Bartolomeo Colleoni, which brings it back to the Sforza fold c. mid-fifteenth century:

"When peace was made between Milan and Venice in 1441, Colleoni went over to the Milanese, together with Sforza in 1443. Although well treated at first, Colleoni soon fell under the suspicion of the Visconti, and was imprisoned at Monza, where he remained until the duke's death in 1447. Milan then fell under the lordship of Sforza, whom Colleoni served for a time, but in 1448 he took leave of Sforza and returned to the Venetians. Disgusted at not having been elected captain-general, he went over to Sforza once more, but Venice could not do without him; by offering him increased emoluments, Venice induced him to return, and in 1455 he was appointed captain-general of the republic for life." wiki.

Boiardo used the word "timore" instead of "metu", but this seems to mean the same. In this context it's of interest, that the Boiardo deck was likely printed around 1497 at the court of Elisabetta Gonzaga in Urbino, and Elisabetta was a very close friend of Isabella (also she was her sister-in-law). Both had married in the same year 1489 and one can read, that they often had opportunity to spend some time together.
Yep, they mean the same, one is Latin the other Italian. I should imagine Isabelle had a copy of the poem long before there was any printing of the deck.

OT: Between the poets associated with the d'Este and the Dukes of Urbino, you remind me to of the Lazzerelli poem with its illustrations from the so-called "tarocchi de Mantagna", remembering that one of the surviving manuscripts bears the crossed out dedication to Borso d'Este (hence must be prior to 1471). According to Campbell (p.127) : "Following Borso's deathc in 1471, Lazzarelli rededicatated his poem to Federico da Montefeltro on his becoming the duke of Urbino in 1474." (Which you have noted on your site.)

[/quote]

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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SteveM wrote: According to Campbell, p78, the motto had previously been adopted by Bartolomeo Colleoni, which brings it back to the Sforza fold c. mid-fifteenth century:
The card in question (Ace of cups) has the Isabella d'Este motto AND a heraldic device of the Colleoni family. Perhaps Campbell concluded, that Colleoni had this motto just because of the card. But there were contacts between Isabella d'Este and descendents of Colleoni, as far I remember (for instance Cassandra, daughter of Colleoni, had married Niccolo da Correggio, who was a cultural institution at Ferrara). Such later relations might have caused the mix of the heraldry elements on the picture.

Image

Isabella d'Este motto and Colleoni heraldry

Image

Colleoni heraldry

Do you mean this passage of a Stephen John Campbell ? ...

Image

https://books.google.de/books?id=z_GBq3 ... tu&f=false
from
The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting and the Studiolo of Isabella D'Este
Stephen John Campbell
Yale University Press, 2004 - 402 Seiten

There's also a Campbell, who wrote Tarot books ...
Tarot Revelations Paperback – June, 1987
by Joseph Campbell (Author), Richard Roberts (Author), Colin Wilson (Introduction)

I wrote about this stuff earlier ...
http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php? ... stcount=59
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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Huck wrote: The card in question (Ace of cups) has the Isabella d'Este motto AND a heraldic device of the Colleoni family. Perhaps Campbell concluded, that Colleoni had this motto just because of the card.
I am not sure what knowledge, if any, Campbell has re: history of tarot cards. The only tarot he mentions is the tarocchi di Mantagne. I don't think it is an area of interest to him, and am not sure he would have made that connection.

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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Post corrected 31/10

Here it is said that Mario Equicola was the Calabrian secretary of Margherita Cantelma
The Marchesa, as we have already seen, in common with most Italian lords and ladies of the age, was in the habit of adopting special devices and mottoes. The musical notes which gave expression to her love of music, the candelabra bearing the motto Sufficit unum in tenebris which Paolo Giovio suggested, and which were embroidered in gold on her festal robes, may still be seen among the decorations of her camerini at Mantua. There too, inscribed in quaint characters, we may read the words of her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu, by which she expressed that serene equanimity and philosophic frame of mind to which she aspired, neither elated by hope nor cast down by fea[r.
She chose this motto for her own as early as 1504, when, at the request of her friend Margherita Cantelma, she gave one of the Imperial ambassadors who visited Mantua and Ferrara gracious permission to use the words in writing and in his armorial bearings and on the liveries of his servants, "we ourselves," she wrote at the time, "being the inventor of this motto, and having adopted it as our peculiar device." In the following autumn Mario Equicola, the Calabrian secretary of Margherita Cantelma, who had followed her and Sigismondo to Ferrara, and was often employed by the Este princes, wrote from Blois to inform Isabella that he had written a book on this device, and only awaited her permission to publish the work.

"Most illustrious Lady, -- It was the custom of ancient authors to seek for noble and excellent subjects in order to render their works immortal. Signora mia, although I am only a poor man of letters, I thank God, who has allowed me to serve Your Excellency, from whose rare talents and lively wit I hope some of my writings may acquire fame and authority. In this firm hope, I have composed a book of some forty sheets, in interpretation of Nec spe nec metu, making mention of the words on every page. In the said book I introduce discussions on the meaning of this motto, which will show Your Signory the methods of ancient poetry, philosophy, and theology, connecting Nec Nec nec metu with each in turn, and praising this motto above all others ever composed. I beg you to give me leave to publish and print this little work, and if you wish, will send it to you before it is published. I await your pleasure, certifying that the twenty-seven chapters on this inscription are nearly finished, after which I will illustrate the musical signs."[



Aparte
About Isabelle d' Este :
http://autourdelombreduconnetable.com/i ... e-mantoue/

About the Courtier, it was proposed for reading to the following ladies :

Isabelle d'Este /
Eleonora Gonzaga, duchess of Urbino/
Emilia Pia/
Marguerita di San Severino, sister of Emilia Pia ?
Marguerita Trivulzio ,countess of Somaglia/
Ippolita Fioramonda marchioness of Scaldasole/
Vittoria Colonna/
Aloysia Gonzaga Castiglione/
Marguerita Cantelma frend of Isabelle d'Este born Marguerita Maloseni and wife of Sigismondo Cantelmo of Mantua/
Veronica Gabara poet and friend of Bembo


https://books.google.fr/books?id=TcyXBg ... te&f=false

Nota : there was a literary connection between the two sisters "PIA" ...The two are selected as belonging to the most cultivated women of this period
Last edited by BOUGEAREL Alain on 31 Oct 2016, 00:07, edited 14 times in total.
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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mikeh wrote:I like the idea of "crowned dauphin", Alain. That leaves out Louis XII, who was never a dauphin. and Francis I, also never dauphin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dauphin_of_France). Besides Louis XI, that still leaves Charles VIII, a dauphin crowned in 1483, died 1498. Other cards in the set also suggest Charles: the lady at the kneeler (see http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a9xTS5mMhuw/V ... hmidt1.jpg) strongly resembles a c. 1472 painting of Charlotte of Savoy (1441-1483), Charles"s mother, at a kneeler (shown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Savoy); the lady on the card is not likely a 20 year old. And the lady with the castle could be Anne of Brittany, who brought her independent duchy into the French orbit by marrying Charles in 1491, which is also when he assumed power at age 21. Charlotte would have learned how to play tarot from her aunt Marie of Savoy, after the latter's return home from Milan around 1450, and passed it on to her children (as well as her husband). There seems to a connection between these cards and the Milan tarot: in particular, the bishop with his anchor is like the Cary-Yale Hope card (with its anchor) or the PMB Star card (whose star is where the anchor is in the Goldschmidt).

The card dating was done by pigment analysis, which dates a painting by determining when a particular pigment was produced, usually an approximate date range. Even then, it are mostly good for providing a date when a painting could not have been produced before, as paints can continue to be produced and especially used after the approximate date it went out of fashion. It would be nice to know more details of the dating process. The cards, as well as the painting, may have been produced by a painter from Savoy, Charlotte's home, which would lead to the idea that the deck was from Provence. But I am no expert on telling Provencale, Burgundian, and French painting apart at that time.

I fail to see the relevance of the motto. The Rosenthal is either some 19th century forger's idea or copies of cards now lost which have a certain stylistic affinity with the Goldschmidt. The V & A cards also have some stylistic affinity, too, related to the Milan cards. But that's all. There were probably numerous luxury decks north and west of Milan, in one court or another, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Your idea of the coronation in Milan is a good one, Alain.
Hi Mikeh

Well Shepard's accepted once the idea of a Dauphin' Delphin crowned (as suggested by Lothar at time) and links two of the remaining cards of the Goldmidt to this thematic.
I also think that Louis XII, not a Dauphin, is too late.
So two candidates : Dauphin futur LOUIS XI
His son, Dauphin futur Charles VIII.
Last edited by BOUGEAREL Alain on 30 Oct 2016, 15:49, edited 3 times in total.
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

Re: Le Tarot arithmologique - la séquence 1+4+7+10 = 22

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SteveM wrote: I am not sure what knowledge, if any, Campbell has re: history of tarot cards. The only tarot he mentions is the tarocchi di Mantagne. I don't think it is an area of interest to him, and am not sure he would have made that connection.
... .-) ... if Colleoni had this motto and it was a matter of some relevance, then either Isabella would have known it, or she would have been told that Colleoni had already used it.

Condottieridiventura has ...
ALESSANDRO COLLEONI (Alessandro da Martinengo) Di Bergamo. Signore di Malpaga e di Cavenago. Figlio di Gerardo da Martinengo, fratello di Giulio da Martinengo.
This person has for May 1509 the note "Si distingue alla battaglia di Agnadello.", then at the side of Venice and against France and for 1511 the note "Per i suoi meriti viene armato cavaliere dai veneziani.", again against France. He belonged to Bergamo and Bergamo had been Venetian territory, so he stood always at the side of Venice. and this was in 1512 against France (it changed in 1513, then Venice and France made an alliance).
Huck
http://trionfi.com