Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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Before we get much further, I want to give you my report on the Italian web articles you referred me to at http://www.storiadimilano.it/Arte/minia ... 0Zavattari (added in 2012: it may be accessed at http://www.storiadimilano.it/Arte/minia ... #I%20Bembo), so that others may benefit from its information.But I don't know why you referred me there. Except on one point—attributing the cards to other members of the family rather than Bonifacio—they seem to go against everything you say.

The article on the Bembos has the most to say about the cards. The author, Maria Grazia Tolfo, first mentions Andrea Bembo, who did an “Adoration of the Magi” in 1423 for the chapel of Palla Strozzi in Saint Trinita in Florence. He then set up shop in Cremona with his brothers Giovanni and Girolamo and stopped producing under his own name. The article goes on:

“La bottega vantava un'altra peculiarità: si occupava di mazzi di carte, attività secondaria, ma abbastanza lucrosa. Ed ecco che l'esperienza di Andrea Bembo maturata alla pittura cortese di Gentile produsse il primo mazzo di carte, noto come mazzo Visconti di Modrone, in occasione del matrimonio di Filippo Maria con Maria di Savoia nel 1428. Chi fornì i modelli degli abiti? Forse Pisanello, il maggior stilista dell'epoca! Sono veramente eccessivi questi abiti per Filippo Maria, che non s'interessò mai di moda, ma andavano bene per raffigurare un corteo nuziale, tema poco diverso in quanto ad ostentazione di lusso da un corteo di Magi. Il mazzo, ora a Yale, ebbe successo e servì da modello sia per il successivo mazzo Brambilla, con vestiti aggiornati al 1442, sia per quello in occasione delle nozze tra Bianca Maria Visconti e Francesco Sforza, meno sfarzoso ma di grande successo iconografico, noto come mazzo Colleoni o Tarocchi dei Visconti.

The shop features another peculiarity: it occupied itself with decks of cards, secondary but lucrative enough. And here the experience gained by Andrea Bembo in painting courtly love for Gentile produce the first deck of cards, known as the Visconti di Madrone, on the occasion of the marriage of Filippo Maria with Maria of Savoy in 1428. Who furnished the models for the clothes? Perhaps Pisanello, the greatest stylist of the epoch! These clothes are really excessive for Philippo Maria, who never was interested in fasion, but did well in picturing a marriage procession, a theme little different in flaunting luxurious ostentation than a procession of the Magi. The deck, now a Yale, was succesful and served as a model both for the Brera-Brambilla that followed, with its clothing updaed to 1442, and for that of the wedding of Bianca Maria Visconti and Frencesco Sforza, less gorgeous but of great iconographic success, known as the Colleoni deck or Tarot of Visconti.”

So Andrea Bembo, according to this writer (Maria Grazia Tolfo), was the guiding light behind the Cary-Yale deck, modeling it on an earlier Adoration of the Magi! And Pisanello (perhaps) designed the clothes. Tolfo apparently relies mainly on clothing styles to date the decks, since she says the clothing was “updated” to 1442 for the Brera-Brambilla. The Colleoni is what we call the PMB. I can’t tell whether she considers it later than the Brera-Brambilla or not. On the one hand, she lists it last. On the other, the wedding was in 1441.

Tolfo continues:

“Quella dei Bembo è una tipica bottega a conduzione familiare. Insieme a Giovanni lavoravano i figli Lazzaro, Gerolamo, Ambrogio, Benedetto e Bonifacio; lo stile era comune a tutti, un po' bamboccesco, come di pupi che si muovevano su un teatrino. Oltre ai mazzi di carte, la bottega decorava anche armadi e le tavolette dei soffitti lignei, come quello di Casa Meli a Cremona (in parte al Museo di Cremona), affrescava case di privati cremonesi, cappelle gentilizie ed edifici pubblici.

The Bembos have a typical family-run shop. Giovanni’s children Lazzaro, Gerolamo, Ambrogio, Benedict and Bonifacio worked together with them; the style was common to everybody, some bamboccesco, like puppets being moved in a little theatre. Besides decks of cards, the shop decorated closets and wooden ceiling panels, like that of the House Meli Cremona (partly at the Museum of Cremona), private houses in Cremona, noble chapels and public buildings.”

So they did do other things besides frescoes. She goes on to describe how the manuscript “Historia di Lancillotto” was a later product of the family, with its 289 drawings in ink and traces of pencil, no color. She says there is some confusion about which of the Bembos did these drawings, Ambrogio or Lazzaro:

...e allora ecco che Ambrogio Bembo per perizia "calligrafica" diventa l'autore dell'Historia di Lancillotto e quindi dei Tarocchi che erano assegnati allo stesso maestro dell'Historia. Ma la chiarezza è durata poco, perché dopo il ritrovamento di altre "prove" il povero Ambrogio è già scalzato a favore del fratello Lazzaro.

...here Ambrogio Bembo for his "calligraphic" skill becomes the author of the "Historia di Lancillotto” and therefore of the Tarocchi that was assigned to the same master of the Historia. But the clarity is of little duration, because after the discovery of other "proof," poor Ambrogio already is undermined in favor of his brother Lazzaro.”

I guess these comments might be one source for your suggestion that we not focus on Bonifacio, but consider other members and the family in general. She doesn’t say which deck is similar to the “Lancelot,” as far as I can tell. For her, it must be either the Brera-Brambilla of “1442” or the PMB of “1441,” since neither of the candidates would have been painting in 1428.

Let us move on to the Zavattari. Our art historian describes how Franceschino and his son Gregorio began work on the Teodolinda chapel in 1444. She goes on:

"La campagna di affresco proseguì per due anni e la bottega non si fece scrupolo di usare come modelli per le figure le carte da gioco dei Bembo (o fu una citazione voluta e autorizzata?). Questa trasposizione ha ingenerato per decenni un'autentica confusione su chi aveva dipinto i mazzi di carte, attribuendone la paternità agli Zavattari.

The fresco campaign continued for two years, and the shop had no scruples about using the playing cards of the Bembos as a model for them (or was it an intended and authorized citation?). This transposition has generated for decades an authentic confusion about who had painted the decks of cards, attributing their paternity to the Zavattari."

To make sure I understood this paragraph correctly, I had an Italian friend go over the translation. The version above is with her approval.

Our art historian agrees that the chapel is similar to the cards, but says it was because the Zavattari, either on their own or under orders, used the cards as a model. She doesn’t say which deck they used. I would assume either the Cary-Yale or the Brera-Brambilla, since the third deck would have been on the Venetian side of Italy with its owners. Never mind that the clothing style in the chapel is different from that of either of these decks.

And that is all she says relating to the cards. I won’t say much about these articles. I suspect she is right about the clothing style of the CY. For example, here is a fresco of Teodelinda which seems somewhat earlier than the Zavattari’s, given the lack of detail in the faces and the medieval look. I can’t find any attribution given on the websites where it appears. The one below comes from http://www.comune.monza.mi.it/rd/la_tua_citta/10789.htm). There must be higher resolution images of it somewhere on the Web.

Image


Tedodolinda’s clothing above seems to me to fit the Cary-Yale better than the people in the Zavattari’s chapel . Look at the Female Page of Batons in my earlier post, for example. The Brera-Brambilla's clothing is similar to that of the CY, except that the Visconti heraldic devices don't appear on it and the sleeves are a little different. At least that is my impression. I am no expert on 15th century Italian fashions.

But are clothing styles a good way to date decks, ignoring considerations of artistic style, which point to a later execution? The Zavattari faces are closer to the CY’s in style, but not the clothes. And what about the coins in the suit of Coins? Would there have been ducats in 1428 like those we see in the cards? I do not mean these questions rhetorically. just don't know the answers.

I am beginning to care less and less what individuals or families painted the decks and at what date. All I really want to say for sure is that the Michelino is before the CY and the BB, and the PMB is after the CY and the BB. But I will keep reading Italian websites in hopes of enlightenment. They certainly follow a different line of thought than writers in English. Tolfo has another web-page in which she discusses the Michelino and says more about the other decks. I will try to figure it out.
Last edited by mikeh on 07 Jun 2012, 22:06, edited 1 time in total.

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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mikeh wrote:Good research on Chaucer's trip to Italy, Huck. Chaucer's poem was in English. Did Petrarch read English? I don't know. They would have spoken in Latin. Perhaps he just knew the title and general theme of Chaucer's book; that would have been enough to suggest to him including "fame" in his Triumphs.

And anyway, what is of concern the circle around Decembrio, early 1400's, not Petrarch late 1300's. They wouldnot have repeated Chaucer's error. I don't know if the Milanese humanists would have thought in terms of Aeolus as Uranos or not. It is possible. What is more important is that they would not have had Aeolus as representing the winds, because they based their own work on their knowledge of the Greek and Latin texts, i.e. the Odyssey and the Aeneid, where Aeolus clearly is more of a king or demi-god than a god like Uranos. As such he is like at least two of the other members of his column in the Michelino: Hercules, a man of mythic proportions who became elevated to a demi-god, and Daphne, a nymph rather than a god.
hi Mike,

they have been too different in age to have too much do with each other, Chaucer's career hadn't really begun in 1468. Similar the story of the meeting between Froissart and Petrarca (which is assumed for the same occasion) - no evidence. But a famous painter, who would be besieged at such an opportunity by curious persons, wouldn't be very good reachable by a young unknown poet. The great poet might have impressed Chaucer and possibly guided Chaucer a little bit, who started around this time to become a writer - but one shouldn't exspect a lively exchange.
I don't see Aeolus in the deck for Philippo Maria, assuming you mean the Cary-Yale. Al I see, at most, is the goddess Fama. Where is Aeolus?
Hm ... Aiolus is (directly) in the description of the Michelino deck, not Fama (which means "in the document"). Fama (as connectred figure to Ailolos) is an analysed result, formed by us. I don't say, that this is a bad analysis, it seems probable, that she was connected. But "documentary evidence" is naturally more concrete, and we cannot judge else as assuming, that this Aiolus was there with some help of Milanese scholars, at least from Martiano da Tortona.
Considering the political change in Milan (from a Milan without Genova to a Milan with Genova - 1421) Filippo Maria had a landmap problem and this was of high importance for him. Suddenly his fame spread through Europe, cause Genuese ships distributed Filippo Maria's money. We were - in our beginnings - very astonished to find Filippo's name connected to events, which took place in Poland and around the Black Sea. The circumstance, that Aiolus was prefered in Milan before the connected allegory Fama might have been one of the results of the map problem ... contemporary maps of the world were 1420 surely all not very satisfying and "good maps" became a major topic in second half of 15th century and all the 16th century. The possession of good maps of specific reasons decided wars.


Ross' translation of Martiano's manuscript wrote:AEOLUS

In the fourteenth place I decided to put the King of the Winds, Aeolus, to whom, if only by the spouse of Jove Aether, are granted the reign as well as the power; still to his authority it was conceded, like Virgil, to soothe the waves, and by the wind to raise them, and in whatever way to agitate in all respects the kingdom of Neptune. By his command the appearance of this world is very often changeful. The hills become covered in white, the woods are laid bare; the plains become dirty, and what were formerly rushing torrents, freeze. The whole earth itself begins to shiver. In frenzy sometimes the now-ripe gifts of Ceres and Bacchus perish, whereat thereby he summons the mild delightful Zephyr. The hillsides turn green by the change of the bran, the woods are clothed with young leaves, all the fields laugh with grass, and sweet streams flowing from fresh sources; the glad world is adorned with foliage and a variety of flowers, and the whole sky resounds, pleasant with the song of flying creatures, and each living thing by nature inclines to love and coupling. Furthermore he is god of the clouds and the power of the hail-storm; being powerful in the mid-day to cover the land in darkness, and to give back the light itself after having been put to flight by the darkness. Begotten by Jove, he reigned at the windy island of Aeolius in the Tyrrhenian Sea near Sicily. Described being dressed as a king, enthroned among the cliffs of his islands, bringing up a gale by the sceptre, because he is thus shown most skillful of the air; and he foretold the future differences of times, even if the power in his hand consisted in containing and releasing the winds.

Fame is not noted ... but it's apparent, that Aiolus is mighty. He reigns in the domain of Neptun, but also in the domain of mother earth. The seasons seem to depend on him and even the light is influenced.

In the Cary-Yale we have Fama with the trumpet (that's Aiolus) and we have a provisional landmap of a region with a larger lake. We have some human figures, whose objective it probably is to remind a scene between the war heroes Sforza and Piccinino, and Sforza is in the concrete situation just marrying and Piccinino is probably a guest (at least there is a report, that Sforza and Piccinino did meet in this time and had friendly talk with each other). Well, the objective of this situation is probably not to think too much about Aiolus and its icongraphical representation, but to spread some glamour about the recent activities.

******
To the arguments gathered by Tolfo: I think, that most of her articles are older than Trionfi.com, and at least older as our younger developments, but occasionally the storia di Milano site makes changes in the pages, so its difficult to be up-to-date.
I did send you to the page cause she writes also a little bit about the Zavattari brothers ... as part of an argument of mine, that the Zavattari brothers are in the discussion. They were already in the discussion in the time of the Kaplan ecyclopedia's, Kaplan mentions them I would think in Encyclopedia II (I don't have them at hand, so I cannot verify this).

To evaluate Tolfo's contributions ... she makes some one-sentence statements, where we often had spend much more texts and energy. Perhaps she has at another place written more about her arguments.
Generally the problem was at begin of the work of Trionfi.com, that a lot of statements existed, which conntradicted each other. So it was advisable to get at the base of the arguments ... simply the facts.

One of the facts was, that the Michelino deck was not very well researched. Another fact was, that the state of research about very early playing cards documents was altogether rather bad. We tried to develop a space, in which it was known about what was talked about - just as good as possible.

Ross had contact around 2003 to Tolfo ... she told us then, that she also had a suspicion about a 5x14-development as far I remember. But her interest stayed small, at least she never appeared in our circle.

A lot of Italians have problems with English language, first foreign language seems to be French. So its difficult with contacts, often.
I guess, that Tolfo's analyses are a construction, which was justified by the research situation in 2003 ... it's difficult to mention always, that you are only "constructing", when you just make a global report about the "current state of research" for readers, which anyway do not know too much about the details.
All I really want to say for sure is that the Michelino is before the CY and the BB, and the PMB is after the CY and the BB.
For the Michelino deck we have, that Michelino was from 1403-1418 outside of Milan, and that Marziano da Tortona is noted 1423 as living and in spring 1425 as dead. Also we know, that Filippo Maria had a splendid year in 1424, got a daughter (Bianca Maria) in April 1425 and arranged a Trionfo in Milan in June 1425. Great festivities for the first born (usually a son) were not unusual.

The we have the document of 1.1.1141, the marriage of Bianca Maria on October 1441, and two Trionfi cards notes in Ferrara 1442. Also we have the first illustrated Petrarca-Trionfi edition in 1441. Between 1443 and 1450 we have nothing comparable.
For 1450 we have the following activities:

25th of February: Sforza conquers Milan - bread is distributed to the suffering population
16th of March: Leonello in Ferrara pays money to Trionfi card painter Sagramoro for the production of 3 Trionfi decks
24th of March: Triumphal entry of Sforza in the city of Milan. Leonello (signore from Ferrara) is there to gratulate the new duke of Milan.

From the coincidence we have to assume, that Leonello did need the three Trionfi card decks for his visit to Milan (before we have had 8 years no other notes about Trionfi decks in Ferrara). And he did need them quick ... so these decks were not very exclusive but cheap. Sagramoro made, what was possible.

With this activity of 1450 Trionfi decks became popular - and appear regularely in documents.
We have two other documents in 1450 (Milan and Florence), another in 1451 (Ferrara).

We have a letter from 1452, that Bianca Maria produced Trionfi cards in Cremona.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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Hi Huck. One comment about your last post: Tolfo cites the same orders for decks that you do, and one or two more. The question is, what decks were these orders for? She has a different idea from Trionfi.

It turns out that Tolfo does have a more detailed web-page about the early Milan decks. Here I will give a summary of what she says about the Michelino and earlier decks at http://www.storiadimilano.it/Arte/carte_gioco.htm. It was last modified in 2002. II will also make my own some comments . At the end of this post I append the relevant parts of her web-page, in Italian, with translation,

She starts by discussing the animal decks now in Stuttgart and Vienna. In the Stuttgart, c. 1430, there are four suits: Ducks, Falcons, Dogs, and Deer. In the Vienna, c. 1440-1450, there are Hersons, Falcons, Dogs, and Piugmagli (objects for the training of falcons). She observes that even though we don’t know the rules, “one can imagine that the Falcon was the enemy of the Ducks as the dog was the predator of the deer.”

So we have two pairs of opposites, and in the game each side of a pair is pitted against the other side. I have already explained how the Michelino, the Boiardo fit this pattern precisely, and the other proto-tarots fit it in the sense of two aggressive suits against two peaceable ones. I find her analysis eminently congenial.

Then Tolfo talks about how popular card-games were among the nobility. Giangaleazzo’s daughter Valentina brought a deck with her when she married the brother of the king of France in 1389. Filippo Maria, her youngest brother, was more attracted to cards than to dice and never learned to play chess. (Now I don't know who to believe, her or you.)

With the Michelino, the table became not just a place for gambling but also for scholarship and battles. “The heroes of the Virtues fought against those of Riches, and those of Chastity against those of Pleasure; Virtue and Chastity were allied against Riches and Pleasure.”

Aquile/Virtù: Giove, Apollo, Mercurio, Ercole
Falconi/Ricchezza: Giunone, Nettuno, Marte, Eolo
Cani/Castità: Diana, Vesta, Pallade, Dafne
Colombe/Piacere: Venere, Bacco, Cerere, Cupido.

Again we have two pairs of opposites, as I have been saying myself. As she portrays the alliances, it is the noble suits against the ignoble ones. Since the suits are also named after birds, I am reminded of Durer’s contrast of the ignoble birds with the noble ones, in his so-called “Michelfeldt Tapestry” woodcut, done c. 1524 but which he said was based on a tapestry of a hundred years earlier (Durer, Complete Engravings, Etchings, and Drypoints, K.-A. Knappe, ed., p. 374; also at http://amica.davidrumsey.com/luna/servl ... when/1599/). On top are the ignoble jay, magpie, and pheasant. On the bottom are the noble eagle, peacock, and falcon. The wheel is turned by Time, here portrayed as a young lady, and Slyness, shown as a fox. On the right are tradesmen doing homage to Fraud on a throne.

Image


So also in the Michelino, the noble bird-suits are Virtues and Virginities, and ignoble ones Riches and Pleasures. Tolfo lines up the teams differently than I did a couple of posts back (but I did say other combinations were possible). Hers may make more sense as the primary set of oppositions. Let’s see.

For Virtue vs. Riches, we have Jupiter vs. Juno in the first column. Yes, they are well known for their spats. Then we have Apollo vs. Neptune. This makes sense: the clarity of light vs. the murkiness of the briny deep. Third is Mercury vs. Mars: in this case, I would see that as cleverness and eloquence vs. brute force. Finally we have Hercules vs Eolus. Who is stronger, Hercules or the controller of the winds? Yes. That opposition makes sense (unlike Hercules vs. Fame, I might add). It makes better sense than either Hercules vs. Fame or my earlier alternative, Daphne vs. the controller of the winds as representative of the passions.

For the other pair I notice that for Virginities, Tolfo’s list goes in a different order from Trionfi’s. Let me try Tolfo’s. First is Diana vs. Venus. In general, these two got along. They did oppose each other once, over Adonis. Diana, who shared custody of the youth, thought it was inappropriate for Venus to seduce her step-son, and got one of her animals to deal with the situation. That version of the myth was not well known; but the two goddesses general attitude toward sex was different as well. As to the Vestal Virgins vs. the Bacchantes, yes, they would oppose each other. But I am not aware of any opposition between Athena and Ceres.

Okay, I will try Trionfi’s order, for these first three. Now it is Athena vs. Venus. As with Diana,, there is the opposition of thei two goddesses’’ general attitude toward sex. Another opposition comes from Athena as war goddess; Venus, although she loves Mars, really prefers peace. Diana and Bacchus definitely have different styles in the woods: Diana uses a bow and arrow and consorts with women only, while the Maenads kill their prey, which includes their own species, with bare hands and teeth, as well as participating in orgiastic dances with satyrs. But I don’t know any opposition between Ceres and Vestia.

Let us make one small change: switching Ceres and Bacchus. That puts Diana and Ceres in opposition, forest vs. the ever-encroaching field. That makes sense. Vesta, goddess of the hearth, and the Bacchantes definitely have different lifestyles. That works, too

In any case, Daphne’s and Cupid’s opposition is clear. It was Cupid whose dart pierced Apollo and inflicted upon him the uncontrollable passion for Daphne, which she unalterably opposed.

So what I end up with is this:

Aquile/Virtù: Giove, Apollo, Mercurio, Ercole
Falconi/Ricchezza: Giunone, Nettuno, Marte, Eolo
Cani/Castità: Pallade , Diana, Vesta, Dafne
Colombe/Piacere: Venere, Cerere, Baccho, Cupido.

This order, besides lending itself to appropriate oppositions, follows the hierarchical positions of the gods. In Turtledoves, Athena is the most important goddess, followed by Diana. Vestia was taken off the 12 altogether. In Doves, Ceres is higher in the heirarchy than Bacchus, even if he did replace Vestia.

Let me conclude my summary of Tolfo. She ends her discussion of the Michelino by recounting Marcello’s famous recovery of the sumptuous bird-dec in 1449k, picked up by a scavenger in the ruins of the Visconti’s castle, burned by the populace after his death. Meanwhile the descriptions were found elsewhere, at Pavia Castle, recovered by the French when they took over in 1499.

She goes on to discuss the Cary-Yale, but I will stop here. All in all, Tolfo’s comments on the Michelino seem to me quite on the mark.
Last edited by mikeh on 16 Oct 2009, 02:10, edited 1 time in total.

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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Of Tolfo's exposition of the Michelino (discussed in my previous post), here is the relevant Italian plus my version of Google’s translation, sentence by sentence:

Il Re e la Regina erano legati al seme che rappresentavano, ossia “il Re dei Falconi” o “la Regina dei Cervi”, e richiamavano alla mente un ambiente fiabesco.
The King and Queen were linked to the suit they represented, namely "the King of Falcons" or the "Queen of Deer" and reminiscent of a fairy-tale atmosphere.

Nel Landesmuseum di Stoccarda, ad esempio, è conservato un mazzo di 49 carte (in origine 52) già appartenuto ai duchi di Baviera e datate circa 1430.
The Landesmuseum in Stuttgart, for example, has kept a deck of 49 cards (originally 52) that earlier belonged to the dukes of Bavaria and dated around 1430.

Le carte numerali (da 1 a 9) sono divise in Anatre, Falconi, Cani e Cervi e le carte di corte hanno figure maschili per i semi relativi agli uccelli e femminili per i quadrupedi.
The pip cards (1 to 9) are divided into Ducks, Falcons, dogs and deer, and the court cards have male figures for the birds and female figures for the quadrupeds (?).

Un altro mazzo del genere, appartenuto al ramo di Innsbruck degli Asburgo intorno al 1440-45 (oggi conservato al Kunsthistorisches Museum di Vienna) ha per semi Aironi, Falconi, Cani e Piumagli (oggetti per l'addestramento dei falconi).
Another deck of that kind, which belonged to the branch of the Habsburgs in Innsbruck around 1440-45 (now at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) has Herons, Falcons, Dogs and Piumagli (objects for the training of falcons).

Il gioco era fatto con la presa, come con la briscola, e si può immaginare che il Falcone fosse il nemico delle Anatre come il Cane fosse il predatore dei Cervi, ma non ci sono pervenute regole precoci del gioco.
The game was made with a grip (?), as with the trumps, and one can imagine that the Falcon was the enemy of the Ducks as the dog was the predator of deer, but had not arrived early rules of the game.

E’ indubitabile che alla corte di Gian Galeazzo Visconti si giocasse a carte.
And there is no doubt that the court of Gian Galeazzo Visconti played cards.

La figlia maggiore Valentina , quando nel 1389 sposò Luigi di Turenna, fratello di re Carlo VI di Francia, recò con sé un mazzo di “carte di Lombardia”.
The eldest daughter Valentina, when in 1389 she married Louis Touraine, brother of King Charles VI of France, brought with her a deck of "cards of Lombardy.”

Il figlio minore Filippo Maria, fin da piccolo, era più attratto dal gioco di carte che dai dadi e non imparò mai a giocare a scacchi.
The youngest son, Filippo Maria, since his childhood was more attracted to card games than dice and never learned to play chess.

Marziano da Tortona e il mazzo degli dèi
Marziona da Tortona and the deck of the gods


Non era solo un gioco d'azzardo, ma anche di erudizione e sul tavolo si scontravano gli eroi della Virtù contro quelli della Ricchezza e quelli della Castità contro quelli del Piacere, Virtù e Castità alleate contro Ricchezza a Piacere.
It was not just gambling, but also scholarship that was on the table, pitching the heroes of Virtues against those of Riches, and those of Chastity against those of Pleasure, Virtue and Chastity allied against Riches and Pleasure.

Marziano scrisse anche un libro di accompagnamento, il primo manuale d'istruzione per un gioco, dove non si sofferma tanto sulle regole, quanto sulle allegorie delle divinità da tener presenti nel gioco.
Marziano also wrote an accompanying book, the first instruction manual for a game, where in presenting the game he does not focus so much on rules as on the allegories of the gods.

Non tutti i giocatori erano così ferrati in cultura classica come il suo pupillo e quindi qualche istruzione supplementare non guastava.
Not all players were as skilled in classical culture as his pupli; then again, further education cannot hurt.

E poi, non era l'educazione il fine ultimo dei giochi?
But then, was not education the ultimate end of the games?

Per uno strano errore di citazione da parte di Pier Candido Decembrio , la miniatura del mazzo venne attribuita allo stesso Marziano, che invece non sembra essere stato un artista.
By a strange misquotation by Pier Candido Decembrio, the thumbnail (?) of the deck was attached to the same Martiano, who instead does not seem to have been an artist.

E' probabile che il segretario ducale ne affidasse la realizzazione a Michelino da Besozzo ; anche la cifra di 1500 ducati che il Decembrio afferma essere stati pagati per il mazzo sembra eccessiva.
It is likely that the ducal secretary entrusts its realization to Michelino Besozzo; even the figure of 1,500 ducats that Decembrio states was paid for the deck seems excessive.

Alla morte di Filippo Maria seguì il triennio (1447-1450) della Repubblica Ambrosiana, inaugurato con il saccheggio e la distruzione del Castello di Porta Giovia.
After the death of Filippo Maria followed the three-year period (1447-1450) of the Ambrosian Republic, inaugurated with the looting and destruction of the Castello di Porta Giovia.

Il bel mazzo di carte miniato venne comprato dal veneziano Antonio Marcello, che nel 1449 ne fece dono a Isabella di Lorena, moglie di Renato d'Angiò.
The beautiful illuminatid deck was bought by the Venetian Antonio Marcello, who in 1449 gave it to Isabella of Lorraine, wife of Rene d'Anjou.

Le carte dovevano trovarsi a Milano, mentre il manuale di istruzioni era rimasto nella Biblioteca di Pavia, requisita nel 1499 dai Francesi alla caduta di Ludovico il Moro e confluita oggidì nella Biblioteca Nazionale di Parigi.
The cards were found at Milan, while the instruction manual was in the library of Pavia, requisitioned by the French in 1499 at the fall of Ludovico il Moro and merged into the present day National Library in Paris.

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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hi Mike,

For the difference of the orders (Athena/Diana etc.)... this should be a problem at the side of Tolfo.
Ross was in Paris and visited the manuscript, before him Franco Pratesi was there. Tolfo surely hadn't the timeto do this.

Ross translated the Martiano text.
http://trionfi.com/0/b/02/
The order in the document is, as the Trionfi page has it.

You should consider, that Tolfo makes (with others) the project "Storia di Milano" and cause of this she's surely an authority to us for many developments interesting in Milano, but not necessarily in every point about playing cards, as this is simply the topic, on which we have specialised. Tolfo has a large field of topics, she cannot be in each speciality totally correct. So the long list of Milan events occasionally has weaknesses (things, which should be inside, are not inside).

Below the article is the date (2002) and a series of links. Trionfi.com is not between the links (and it wasn't in existence 2002). Well, I don't know, if she didn't improve her writing in the meantime (we also update our articles occasionally).

If you wish to have a view on German decks:
http://trionfi.com/0/p/25/
We followed Schreiber's list, which was published 1938. We hadn't much to add, but in times of internet occasionally a few things appear, which were unknown by Schreiber.

"I find her analysis eminently congenial." ... .-) ... she's not the only one, who noted this detail.

"Filippo Maria, her youngest brother, was more attracted to cards than to dice and never learned to play chess. (Now I don't know who to believe, her or you.)"
... better believe me. The research about a chess club at Filippo Maria's court 1427 was done by Franco Pratesi, also the visit of a master player is noted short after. Franco quoted a longer Latin text". Franco Pratesi is not only an excellent researcher about Italian sources to Tarot, but also made researches to chess, checkers and Go (recently). He has a greater name in chess research, you detect him occasionally quoted in difficult cases. So in this detail Tolfo should be wrong, but it is excused, as Franco Pratesi published this in a somewhat provisional form. It is difficult in the scholar's world to keep up-to-date and it was much more difficult in the time without internet.

"Marcello’s famous recovery of the sumptuous bird-deck in 1449, picked up by a scavenger in the ruins of the Visconti’s castle"
A somewhat romantic description ... according our researches it seems probable, that Marcello got the deck during peace negotiations between Venice - Savoy (partial peace, Milan was not included) in May 1449 probably from the widow of Filippo Maria Visconti (who earlier had the responsibility, that Savoy engaged in the Milanese-Venetian war, she was of Savoyan descendance). A major battle was lost in April 1449 for the Savoyans against Colleoni, so Savoy took a draw back.

As you seem to be good with Italian language, it might be interesting for you to know
http://condottieridaventura.it
Very useful for biographical studies.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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Thanks for the link to Ross's translation of Martiano, Huck. I had read it before, but I forgot about it this time around. It occurred to me when I read your quote about Aeolus that I should find it again, because Martiano not only was paraphrasing the passage in the Aeneid that I had quoted before, but he mentioned Virgil by name. So:Virgil is the main source (where Aeolus controls the winds, and his son blows the horn-actually, a conch shell).

Another question I have is again about Philippo as a chess player. If he sponsored a chess club, that still doesn't mean he played the game, or even was a fan. He may have just been accommodating others who did play the game and showing to visitors that he wasn't a total boor. Can you say more about Philippo and chess?

TOLFO ON THE CY

Now to my main agenda. I have been reading more of Tolfo (http://www.storiadimilano.it/Arte/carte_gioco.htm). There were three things she said about the Cary-Yale that I found interesting.

(1) The word "Martiano" seems to be printed on the Faith card. Here is what Tolfo says:

"Il mazzo era stato molto probabilmente realizzato al più presto in occasione delle nozze tra Filippo Maria e Maria di Savoia , celebrate nel 1428 , quindi almeno tre anni dopo la scomparsa di Marziano da Tortona. La scritta, ormai illeggibile, accompagnava la figura di un re - re Nino di Ninive, l'idolatra - schiacciato sotto il trono della Fede, il cui manto è intessuto di colombine raggiate. Una carta un po' strana per portare la firma (ma quando mai, purtroppo, i miniatori firmarono le loro opere?) di Marziano, che si sarebbe così identificato con un eretico..

The deck was probably realized quickly at the wedding of Filippo Maria and Maria of Savoy, celebrated in 1428, so at least three years after the disappearance of Marziano de Tortona. The inscription, now illegible, accompanies the figure of a king - king of Nineveh Nino, idolatry - crushed under the throne of Faith, whose robe is woven of doves and fishes. One card, a bit strange to bear the signature of Martiano (but when did, unfortunately, the illuminators sign their works?), who would be so identified with a heretic."

I will ignore the part about Martiano as a heretic, as I don't understand it. I am just interested in the "signature." I Here is the relevant part of the Faith card, cropped from the Beinecke images:

Image


I can make out an m, an a, an r, and a t, all small letters, uncapitalized. There may be letters after the t. And before the m, there may be a space and then some other letters. So we appear to have some kind of homage to Martiano spelled with a t), author of the book explaining the Michelino. It is not of course to Martiano as artist, but as designer. And it does not necessarily suggest that the deck was made soon after Martiano's death or disappearance. Sitting in the Pavia library, it could have been consulted with profit by anyone. The Pavia library kept records of when books were returned to the shelves. Lubkin reports that books "against poison" were replaced on the shelves in October of 1469, suggesting that Galeazzo had consulted them ( A Renaissance Court, p. 235). My point is that it would be of interest to tarot researchers to see when, if ever, Martiano's book was checked in or out. So far, all we have is a reference to Martiano. But it would seem that either he designed the Cary-Yale or an earlier prototype, or someone else did so using his book.

(2) Tolfo's second interesting observation is that in 1422 Ferrara, there is a record of an order for 13 cards:

"A Ferrara, ad esempio, nel 1422 venivano pagate 6 lire di marchesini a un certo Giacomo per 13 cartexelle da zugare, ma non si sa di che tipo.

In Ferrara, for example, in 1422, were paid 6 lire from the Marchesini [or, 6 Marchenisi lire] to a certain Giacomo for 13 cartexelle of zugare, but it is not known what kind."

"da zugare" is also the phrase Frenacesco Sforza used in 1450 in requesting Imperator/Trionfi decks. I am not sure what it means. Tolfo interprets "cartexelle da zugare" as trionfi special cards.

(3) Then she makes an obvious observation that she nonetheless gets slightly wrong. The CY, she says, has 12 surviving special cards.

"Le carte figurate superstiti sono : Mago, Imperatore, Imperatrice; Matrimonio, Carro; Fede, Speranza, Carità, Fortezza; Ruota del Destino , Morte, Giudizio, Mondo.

The picture cards that survived are: Magician, Emperor, Empress, Marriage, Chariot, Faith, Hope, Charity, Strength, Wheel of Destiny, Death, Rating, World."

Tolfo's mistake is to count "Il Mago," the Magician, among the CY's surviving cards She even shows a picture of it on her web-page. But the picture is really a fictional re-creation based on the PMB. There are only 11 surviving cards, of course.

Tolfo goes on to say that it may well be that none of the special cards have been lost, or at most one, so that the CY totaled 12 or 13 originally.

Her permission to make this hypothesis is the Ferrara order in 1422 for 13. If we correct her slip, then her thesis is that only one or two are lost. She says the missing card is probably Justice.

In my next post, "AMPLIFICATIONS OF TOLFO ON THE CY" I will give an argument in support of her thesis using her observations but going beyond what she says on her web-page. Then I will have another post criticizing it.
Last edited by mikeh on 16 Oct 2009, 02:00, edited 1 time in total.

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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This is part 2 of a 3 part series of posts. The first one was "Tolfo on the CY."

AMPLIFICATIONS OF TOLFO ON THE CY

Tolfo does not connect her thesis with her previous point about Martiano's name. But it seems to me that if the CY was created in the context of the Miehclion. Then there should be an equal number of special cards per suit, either 12 or 16, plus perhaps a card not connected with any suit. I give this last possibility because as we know, the Fool is unnumbered, out of the hierarchy, like a Joker.

The way in which Yale catalogues the cards supports my addition to Tolfo's hypothesis. The Yale titles were inherited by them, Yale told me when I emailed the Beinecke about this a year ago. They label the special cards by suit, in the following order:

Swords: Empress, Emperor, Love.
Batons: Fortitude, Faith, Hope.
Cups: Charity, Chariot, Death.
Coins: World, Judgment.

It would appear that at least one card is missing.

So how would this list relate to the Michelino list? For reference, here it is, as supplied by Trionfi.

Virtues/eagle: Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Hercules
Riches/phoenix; Juno, Neptune, Mars, Eolus
Virginities/turtledove: Pallas, Diana, Vesta, Daphne
Pleasures/dove: venus, Bacchus, Ceres, Cupid

I want to emphasize that I am not talking only or even mainly about parallel or similar imagery between the two decks. I am talking about parallels either in symbolism or imagery, and mainly the former, since Martiano was a writer rather than an artist.

The first three parallels are easy: the Emperor is Jupiter, the Empress is Juno, and Love is Venus. (Or it could be Cupid; but he is at the other end of the sequence.) I see one parallel in imagery: Martiano describes four stars around Jupiter, plus one more on the lower right. Here is Martiano's description:

"I. Jupiter: Sitting on a throne, surrounded and provided with 4 heavenly signs in the corners. Above right is the splendour of wisdom and above left the light, with which laws are given, at the right bottom is a bright star like Mars, which shines in those who preserve the state; in the left bottom the thunderbolt." (http://trionfi.com/tarot/0b-oldest-taro ... /index.php)

Similarly there are four pages around the Emperor. And the fifth star is the crown, held by the page at bottom right of the card. The image below is from http://www.tarot-history.com/History/index.html.

Image


Since these were all in one column, let us continue down the columns, with some flexibility as to order.

For Fortitude/Strength, we might consider Neptune, whose might in the sea both shows his great strength and requires strength plus fortitude in return. (Hercules could also be a model for this card, but he is in another column.) I don't recall Neptune, Diana, Bacchus, or their devotees being famous for Faith. We might have to go to Vesta and her virgins, pagan counterparts of Christian nuns. For Hope, we have Apollo. Hope relates to Christ, as Christ was often compared to the sun.

In Cups, Charity might correspond to Ceres, the bounty of the earth, the lady with the cornucopia. Tbe obvious candidate for Chariot is Mars; Martiano starts off his description by mentioning his victory chariot. For Death, Mars is also a candidate. Perhaps these two cards are the positive and negative sides of Mars: victory and fame on the one hand, cutting people up on the other.

In Coins, Hercules would fit the bill for Fame/World. Actually, here Tolfo has a good suggestion; her name for the card is Glory. I like that choice very much, as it is ambiguous-it could mean worldly glory or glory in the hereafter. "Fame" does not have the same automatic lack of clarity. As for Judgment, Eolus was the instrument of Juno's wrath against Aeneis. Judgment, too, has a horn: not that of Eolus himself, but perhaps of one of the sons of the demigod, as angels are to the Christian God. The trumpeter on World/Fame/Glory, in contrast, is unambiguously female.

For Justice, we might have Daphne, who gets her justly deserved wish of escaping Apollo's desire to possess her. And Apollo gets the torment that Juno thought he deserved. We don't know what the CY Justice card would have looked like, but it might have been similar to the PMB's. Like the World/Fame/Glory card, I see it as portraying a scene from the days of chivalry, a knight achieving justice for his Lady. On Olympus, Jupiter was the one in charge of justice, which he delegated to his daughter Dike.

There are also parallels in the symbolism of the suit-names in the two decks. Virtues and eagles, in the heroic 15th century, correspond to Swords in the CY and other standard playing card decks of the time. Virginities and turtledoves, similarly, correspond to Cups-faithfulness merging with faith, the suit of religion. Pleasures and doves correspond to Batons, the suit of fertility. We see this expressed, for example, in the PMB court cards, where the males wear green gloves and the female green sleeves sleeves. Here are the Queen and King of Batons.

Image


I apologize for the blurriness; I prepared these jpg files some time ago for another purpose. The lady on the Love card also has green sleeves. "Greensleeves" songs are all about erotic longing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensleeves). It is the color of spring. This is one suit where imagery supports symbolism.

As for Phoenices, well, as I think Ross has said somewhere on Trionfi, a dove in a sunburst have might equal a phoenix, granted to the Viscontis as a symbol of the rebirth of their city after Frederick Barbarossa demolished it. If so, we have visual memory of the Michelino suit of riches in the CY, because the court figures carry coins with just that emblem on them. Huck has already posted images of this detail, on another tarot forum. As to their meaning, I have just begun researching this subject.

This series of 3 posts will conclude below, on the post entitled "Objections to Tolfo on the CY"
Last edited by mikeh on 16 Oct 2009, 01:59, edited 1 time in total.

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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This is the 3rd post of 3. The one before it was "Amplifications of Tolfo on the CY."

OBJECTIONS TO TOLFO ON THE CY

My chief objection to accepting Tolfo's list of 12 special cards for the CY is that it seems incomplete. I think we need to add some cards, so that there will be 16, just as in the Michelino.

If Justice and Fortitude are there, then so should Temperance (as many have observed), the third Aristotelian moral virtue, the same number as the Christian theological virtues. Moreover, Temperance appears in the surviving cards of two other early decks, the Charles VI and the d'Este. Now we are at 13.

The deck still seems incomplete. I at least would like to see the 6 triumphs of Petrarch represented. We have Love for Petrarch's Love, Faith for his Chastity, Chariot for his Fame (of the worldly variety in Petrarch), Death for Death, and Judgment for Eternity. What about Time? Here I think we have the Wheel of Fortune. That is a card we know from the Brera Brambilla, in many ways very similar to the Cary-Yale. In Durer's "Michelfeldt Tapestry," time was symbolized by a woman turning a wheel (see my previous post). For Milan I would reject the Hermit or Old Man as a candidate, despite his hourglass, for the same reason that Trionfi gives: it is disrespectful to Philippo, who used crutches, just as the figure of Time did in the illustrations to Petrarch. As Wheel, Time is comparable to Ceres in the Michilino: the circle of the seasons, varying with Ceres' moods. We are up to 14, a Trionfi number even though they don't use it for this deck.

Next, since we have the Emperor and the Empress, maybe we should have the Pope as well, to complete the list of highest authorities in this world. In the Michelino, he corresponds to Pallas, the virgin goddess who takes orders only from her father. Again, the Pope appears to have been a popular subject in early decks: it appears in the surviving cards of both the d'Este and the Charles VI. We are at 15.

I think two more are indicated. One candidate is again suggested by the Michelino: the Bagatella or Magician. Mercury of course has his winged cap; Martiano describes him with a "Galero," a broad-brimmed cardinal's hat (Trionfi, Martiano manuscript translation). Cardinal's hats are red, I must add. The PMB Magician has just such an absurd hat. Probably the CY-at some point in its history--did as well. If I may now jump ahead to Tolfo's characterization of the PMB, her analysis of this "Mago" gives us another reason for putting him in the CY, and making the association to Mercury.

"Il Mago (poi prenderà il nome di Bagatto) è un'altra carta molto interessante: il personaggio indossa un abito rosso foderato di vaio se non di ermellino ed esibisce un tricorno pure orlato di pelliccia. Un tale abbigliamento lo connota, seconda le rigide leggi suntuarie del medioevo, come un medico o un alchimista, in grado di trasmutare con la sua "bacchetta" la polvere bianca ammucchiata su un lato del suo desco nei pezzi d'oro che si vedono lì accanto.

The Magician (later named the Bagatto) is another very interesting card: the character wears a red coat lined with brown ermine and is showing off a three-cornered hat trimmed with fur as well. Such clothing connotes, according to the strict sumptuary laws of medieval times, a doctor or an alchemist who can transmute with his "wand" the white powder piled on one side of his table into the gold pieces that you see there close by it."

Image


I am unaware of the Bagatto's being called "Mago" in the 15th century: he was the Bagatella. I can't tell what the Bagatella's shirt is made of; it might be green, a color that faded into brown. And there is no white powder on the table, just a cloth covering something. But the point remains: there is fur on the hat, the clothing is elegant, the PMB Bagatto is no itinerant street performer, and there is some magic under that cloth. He could be an alchemist, a student of Hermes Trismegistus--"Mercury the Egyptian" as Pico called him in his 900 Theses--in all the wonderful ambiguity of that trade, as wise man or quack. He is like Jesus in his day, or now even a priest, i.e. a cardinal. He has the elixir, the key to eternal life. In the deck he goes somewhere near the end, in Coins. Hence the fun of catching the "Pagad" in the last trick.

Now we have a 4x4 grid, just like the court cards and the Michelino god-cards, for 5x16 in all. We might stop there, but I think one more is indicated. How did the Fool, whom we see in the PMB, get his unnumbered status? It may have come about at the time when all the other special cards were attached to a suit and thus part of the hierarchy. Somehow the Fool broke free, either by being added on after all the others, or by letting another card, in particular the Bagatto, take his place at the end. Cupid is the last special card in the Michelino, and the obvious parallel in the CY would be Cupid, who makes a fool even of Jupiter.. And so he would be the last special card in the CY, were it not for needing to give his place to the Bagatto so as to break free. Then at some point the Bagatto himself changes position, going to the very front.

In some such way, the Olympian gods become Christianized in the CY. I think that now we can stop adding cards. We have 16 conversions to Christianity, plus one more that occurred when we divided Mars into positive and negative.

To sum up this conclusion, I will redo the suit assignments found in the Beinecke, with the missing cards, as I see them, in parentheses. The order in which they appear in the suits is not important for our purposes:

Swords: Empress, Emperor, Love, (Pope)
Batons: Fortitude, Faith, Hope, (Temperance)
Cups: Charity, Chariot, Death, (Wheel of Fortune)
Coins: World, Judgment, (Justice), (Bagatella)
(Wild card: Fool)

At that time or later, the Bagatella gets moved to the front of the deck, his customary position.

The only other possibilities for the CY, based on what we have of the PMB, are the Popess and the Hanged Man. I do not see them in the Michelino. (Likewise I do not see the Hermit; I have already discussed one important reason he is not there; the absence of a parallel in the Michelino may be another. The PMB's Star, Moon, and Sun were added by a second artist, and I would argue are new conceptualizations of Hope, Faith, and Charity.). Also, these two, Popess and Hanged Man, entail difficult concepts for the children who would be play this game. They are also two cards that have particular reference to the ancestors of the people for whom the deck is intended: the children of the people whose marriage provided the occasion for the cards.

The Popess is, on one level, the Visconti ancestor burned at the stake in 1300, for daring to be elected as Pope of her mildly heretical sect. The Hanged Man is Muzio Attendola, Sforza, Francesco's father, who defied the anti-Pope and had this figure and his name on a poster plastered on all the bridges of Rome (according to Maokley). They are rebels against authority--not something a parent would want to promote in a young person's mind. As they enter adolescence. And their generic meaning is also complex. Is the Popess a wise woman, like an Abbess, or the sacrilegious Pope Joan? Is the Hanged Man a traitor, like Judas, or someone wrongly called a traitor, like Jesus? Both were hung from a tree. These are difficult ideas, better suited to our card players when they grow older.

I would call these two cards, the Popess and the Hanged Man, "ancestor cards." In a sense, the Hermit and the Pope are also ancestor cards. Tolfo has an interesting point:

"Il Papa porta una barba lunga e fluente, la stessa della carta dell' Eremita. E' uno dei papi dimessi dal Concilio di Costanza? E' forse lo stesso duca di Savoia Amedeo VIII , padre di Maria di Savoia, che era stato antipapa col nome di Felice?

The Pope wears a long flowing beard, the same as on the Hermit card. And one of the popes resigned from the Council of Constance? And perhaps the same Duke of Savoy Amadeus VIII, father of Maria of Savoy, who had been anti-pope under the name of Felix?"

Image


Actually, the PMB Emperor (above) is the one with the long beard, not the Pope (below).

Image


when compared with the PMB Hermit.

Image


But her historical point is well taken: Among other things, the Pope and the Hermit are Bianca Maria's grandfather Amadeus VIII. But Amadeus VIII wasn't a true pope, in that he wasn't elected by the whole Church. And all these Pope cards also have a fairly straightforward allegorical meaning. The Pope appears in substantially the same form in both the d'Este and the Charles VI. where there would not be these personal associations. The Hermit appears in the Charles VI in exactly the same form as in the PMB, with his hourglass.

In contrast, the Popess and the Hanged Man are among the least popular subjects in other early decks, at least in the way they are represented in the PMB. The Popess is in neither the d'Este nor the Charles VI. The Hanged Man is in the Charles VI, but represented very differently, with no suggestion that he might be seen sympathetically, as the Sforzas would have seen Muzio.

It is possible that the Popess, the Hermit, and the Hanged Man were not only absent from the CY, but also from the original PMB. It is possible that the original PMB was simply the CY minus the three theological virtues. 17 minus 3 equals 14.

I am still not totally agreeing with Trionfi. We still disagree about what the template was for the CY and the PMB. It seems to me that the Michelino is a better candidate for template for the CY than the game of chess. We still disagree about what particular cards were in the CY: I say that the Popess was not there, now was there a separate card for Prudence as such, as one of the named virtues. (I hope I have read Trionfi's position correctly here.) I say the Wheel of Fortune, the Fool and the Bagatto were all in the CY. For the PMB, I see the template as the CY, not some teenage girls designing a game for fun. And I postulate three possible stages in the PMB, not two, as Trionfi and most others think, or one, as Dummett has recently hypothesized.

For my thesis to be complete, I still have to argue against Trionfi's view about the 6 cards by the second artist, and against Dummett's view that both artists did their work at the same time. To do so will take one more post at least.

Re: "The 5x14 Theory: An Investigation" part II

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At Tolfo's page she mentions that she took her information from Leopoldo Cicognara. The relevant passage should be at page 52.

http://books.google.com/books?ci=209%2C ... no&f=false

I don't know, if it was known already in Cicognara's time, that Marziano was definitely dead in 1425. Marziano was probably regarded then as an artist, cause he appears in the text of Decembrio - the text of Martiano was not known, it's first noted in 1911 and then was visited by Pratesi in 1989.

Tolfo herself says, that the inscription is not readable - nowadays. But probably in 1831 the text was also not readable, but it became interpretable as "Martiano", if one knew and believed, that Martiano was possibly the painter.

Tolfo herself is informed, that Martiano is not the painter (at the quoted page).

The Cary-Yale has no "Mago", Tolfo herself speaks of the Cary Yale collection, and you can visit this online (as you had done), and you can see, there is no "Mago" ... I don't know, which error occurred to Tolfo, that she presents 12 trumps. Kaplan and Dummett speak of 11 trumps.
The presented card belongs to a reproduction - as you verified.

Ferrara 1422:
http://trionfi.com/0/d/11

Should be more precise than Tolfo's note.
The note, however, is not clear: one (the major) explanation is, that it are 13 replacement cards for damaged cards, another idea it is (from Trionfi), that 13 cards were added to an already existing deck with (probably) 4x13-structure. Which might mean, that a 5th trump row was added.
However, the added composition of 13 cards has only "5 figure" - which in the case of an improved common deck might relate to 3 court cards and a decorative 10 and a decorative Ace. Perhaps all the 13 cards were signifant different to the other cards, so that they were recognizable in their trump function.

The "added cards" interpretation wins in probability, when a year later Parisina got "8 Imperatori" cards imported from Florence, probably also considered to be added to a normal deck. Also we see the 14 paintings of 1.1.1441 as added cards, and later the 6 cards of the second painter of PBM.
"Adding cards" would have been a simple (and cheap) way to alter common decks to luxury decks.
It is possible that the Popess, the Hermit, and the Hanged Man were not only absent from the CY, but also from the original PMB. It is possible that the original PMB was simply the CY minus the three theological virtues. 17 minus 3 equals 14.
I am still not totally agreeing with Trionfi. We still disagree about what the template was for the CY and the PMB.

Simple solutions have the preference, that they are simple solutions.
There have been two painters at the PBM, one painted 14 trumps, the second painted six, which were added. That's simple - it doesn't add personal interpretation.
It only changes the older interpretation, that the 6 were replacement cards and that the deck was already in the state of the standard form (22 cards).
Huck
http://trionfi.com