Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

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Huck wrote:
For a primary source of Hesperis XIII [which you provided]:

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b5 ... age.langEN

As far I understood it, the Basinio work at Gallica ...

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b5 ... /f257.item
Basinius Parmensis, Hesperis ["Basinii Parmensis Hesperidos" libri XIII]

... is only book No. 13 of 13 books, which belong to the work. I've read, that the whole work had about 18.000 verses.
True. Originally, I provided this in relation to the description of Basinio’s Temple of Fame as cited in Wikipedia and found in Book 13, Verse 205-217.
Huck wrote:
The Malatesta temple; sixty four illustrations, and text (1915)
by Luigi Orsini
https://archive.org/details/malatestatemples00orsiiala
A lovely resource. Thank you.

A few photos of the Temple, which caught my immediate attention . . .

. . . The Tomb of Malatesta’s Ancestors by Agostino di Duccio (ca. 1453-1456) . . .
malatestatemples00orsiiala_0057.jpg malatestatemples00orsiiala_0057.jpg Viewed 20959 times 42.53 KiB
. . . and details of two friezes located on the tomb: At left, “Pallas [Athene] Surrounded by Heroes” . . .
malatestatemples00orsiiala_0059.jpg malatestatemples00orsiiala_0059.jpg Viewed 20959 times 49.68 KiB
. . . at right, the “Triumph of Sigismund.” In this last, Fama blows her trumpet. The chariot’s throne incorporates a hybrid creature—head of a lion, wings presumably of an eagle, feet of an elephant. The chariot is pulled by four horses—not elephants . . .
malatestatemples00orsiiala_0058.jpg malatestatemples00orsiiala_0058.jpg Viewed 20959 times 48.66 KiB
Then, there’s the recurring motif of two “trumpeting” elephant heads facing in different directions, Janus-like, and bearing a dragon’s ruff or wing. Athene’s chariot was at times pictured being pulled by dragons in Renaissance works. Perhaps, this is the connection.

When used for Isotta’s Tomb, the elephants have scrolls in their mouths, which read from left “Tempus loquendi” (“A time to speak”) and from right “Tempus tacendi (“A time for silence”; Ecclesiastes 3:7). Further, St. Sigismund is pictured seated on two elephants facing in different directions, similar to the Matteo di Pasti medal with Lady Fortitude referenced earlier . . .
malatestatemples00orsiiala_0043.jpg malatestatemples00orsiiala_0043.jpg Viewed 20959 times 42.47 KiB
A parallel might be found, perhaps, in the fresco by Piero della Francesca (ca. 1451), in which Malatesta is pictured kneeling before an Imperial looking St. Sigismund. Two greyhounds are pictured beside Malatesta—one white, one black, facing in opposite directions, by one theory, for Faith and Vigilance . . .
Huck wrote:
Pictures of this work [Basinio’s “Hesperis”]:
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark
Again, thank you, Huck.

I’ve read that the illustrations for all three, extent copies of Basinio’s “Hesperis”—viz. the Oxford, Paris, and Vatican manuscripts—are attributed to the miniaturist, Giovanni da Fano (aka Giovanni di Bartolo di Bettina). Further, the illustrations for all three copies allegedly follow the same, basic program. Notwithstanding, apparently none of the copies are complete. Moreover, a number of the illustrations purportedly demonstrate differences of possibly material substance.

http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/gio ... ografico)/

http://www.engramma.it/eOS/index.php?id_articolo=206

I’ve focused mostly on what appears to be the mythic theme, below, with the exception of the first illustration. However, in terms of the Oxford website, it should be noted that the illustrations and descriptions pertaining, thereto, are generally out of order. Thus, I give the thumbnail “folio number” first, then what is likely the “real” folio number given in the description in parenthesis, if different. Further, I cannot, of course, attest to the accuracy of the descriptions provided by the Oxford website, not having read the Latin text, nor can I know how closely the illustrations followed the text.

The BnF references are given first. I could not provide separate links for each BnF illustration and, thus, have attached copies of the illustrations, herein.

Oxford Fol. 050r – (Military theme) Malatesta’s Army on the march. Malatesta, crowned with laurel leaves, follows trumpeters. The trumpeters’ banners depict two elephants “trumpeting”; so, obviously, the link between elephants and trumpets was known to the artist and/or Malatesta . . .

http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark

Mythic Theme:

BnF Fol. 61r – Malatesta sets sail for Africa. Cf. Oxford Fol. 070r:
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark

BnF Fol. 61v – Shipwreck at Sea! Cf. Oxford Fol. 061r (Fol. 070v):
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark#

BnF Fol. 73v – Malatesta lands at the Island of Fortune. He arrives on a plank of wood at a sandy beach. Beyond, a landscape with trees, a fox, and birds. Cf. Oxford Fol. 060v (Fol. 082v):
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark

BnF Fol. 74r – The Royal Palace of Zephyrus on the island of Fortune. Three women at foreground play chess. A winged female figure located at midground. A blue-clad Psyche (?) reclines beneath the trees at background. Numerous deer, birds, and a fox. Cf. Oxford Fol. 037v (Fol. 083r):
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark

BnF Fol. 82r – Unknown narrative. Malatesta with female figure with bow (Luna?). A natural spring at foreground. Numerous birds, deer, trees. A ship on the distant horizon. Cf. Oxford Fol. – Missing.

BnF Fol. 82v – Malatesta at the Elysian Fields. At top, Malatesta, like Hercules, holds a club over a bovine animal that is tethered to its infant before flames rising from the Underworld. Below, a series of five concentric circles. A group of soldiers in full armour at center. Malatesta (?) with bow, arrow, and sling leaves a group of men and women. At left, two women and two girls seated in a grove; at right, three men in conversation. Cf. Oxford Fol. 027r ( Fol. 091r) – At top, a kid ram has replaced the infant bovine animal.***
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark

BnF Fol. 90v – Departure from the island by ship. Cf. Oxford Fol. – Missing.

In summary, not sure if much was gained, here.

Thank you and Regards,
Kate

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

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Kate wrote: BnF Fol. 73v – Malatesta lands at the Island of Fortune. He arrives on a plank of wood at a sandy beach. Beyond, a landscape with trees, a fox, and birds.
Fol. 73v.Arrival at Island of Fortune.jpg
Cf. Oxford Fol. 060v (Fol. 082v):
http://bodley30.bodley.ox.ac.uk:8180/lu ... =Shelfmark

BnF Fol. 74r – The Royal Palace of Zephyrus on the island of Fortune. Three women at foreground play chess. A winged female figure located at midground. A blue-clad Psyche (?) reclines beneath the trees at background. Numerous deer, birds, and a fox.


...

In summary, not sure if much was gained, here.

Thank you and Regards,
Kate
Of high interest - at least in my case - is the chess scene.

The palace of Zephyrus ....

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail ... um/1413715
Medieval love-poets had only to mention the name of Zephirus, the god of the West Wind, to evoke the keenest desires of courtly society: the passion for clean colours, clear sounds and fresh odours; the longing to ride into the fields bearing a hawk or to sit by a castle window-seat and muse in the breeze. Above all Zephirus was associated with Springtime and youth—so much so that the fifteenth-century Le Jardin des nobles makes Zephirus the husband of ‘Youth … the goddess of flowers’.
Also: http://www.theoi.com/Titan/AnemosZephyros.html

At Piombino the West wind came from France. Dufay (mentioned as one of the authors of the 15th century collection of songs) came to Italy around 1420 and he came first to the Malatesta court. Carlo Malatesta had made the contact at the council of Constance, when he presented one of the three popes, who lost their rank.

Carlo Malatesta and Gregor XII.
Gregorio languì nella Romagna governata dal Malatesta, osservando da lontano i preparativi per la convocazione del Concilio di Costanza. La comparsa di Gregorio sul palcoscenico conciliare avvenne, però, solo nel 1415, in seguito alla deposizione di Giovanni XXIII nel maggio del 1415[8].Gregorio allora, che aveva nominato Carlo Malatesta e il cardinale Giovanni Dominici di Ragusa come suoi delegati, si dichiarò disposto ad abdicare qualora gli fosse stato riconosciuto il suo ruolo di pontefice. I padri conciliari accettarono la contropartita e il cardinale Dominici, quindi, convocò il concilio a nome di Gregorio, ne autorizzò i suoi atti di successione[9]. Quindi Malatesta, agendo in nome di Gregorio XII, pronunciò il 4 luglio 1415 la rinuncia all'ufficio di romano pontefice di Gregorio,[1] che i padri conciliari accettarono. In base a precedenti accordi, il Concilio accettò anche di mantenere tutti i cardinali che questi aveva creato, dando così soddisfazione alla famiglia dei Correr, e nominando Gregorio vescovo di Porto e legato pontificio ad Ancona.
Dufay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Dufay
Soon Dufay's musical gifts were noticed by the cathedral authorities, who evidently gave him a thorough training in music; he studied with Rogier de Hesdin during the summer of 1409, and he was listed as a choirboy in the cathedral from 1409 to 1412. During those years he studied with Nicolas Malin, and the authorities must have been impressed with the boy's gifts because they gave him his own copy of Villedieu’s Doctrinale in 1411, a highly unusual event for one so young. In June 1414, at the age of only 16, he had already been given a benefice as chaplain at St. Géry, immediately adjacent to Cambrai. Later that year he probably went to the Council of Konstanz, staying possibly until 1418, at which time he returned to Cambrai.

From Cambrai to Italy and Savoy

From November 1418 to 1420 he was a subdeacon at Cambrai Cathedral. In 1420 he left Cambrai again, this time going to Rimini, and possibly Pesaro, where he worked for the Malatesta family. Although no records survive of his employment there, several compositions of his can be dated to this period; they contain references that make a residence in Italy reasonably certain. It was there that he met the composers Hugo and Arnold de Lantins, who were among the musicians of the Malatesta household.
In 1424 Dufay again returned to Cambrai, this time because of the illness and subsequent death of the relative with whom his mother was staying. By 1426, however, he had gone back to Italy, this time to Bologna ...
Dufay is said to have caused a music revolution in Italy, and a lot of other Northern musicians followed him on his way, a development finally being crowned by the condition, that Italy invented the opera more than 150 years later, prepared also by the many Trionfi celebrations, which often were accompanied by musical representations.

That this started at one of the Malatesta courts naturally contributed to the fame of the Malatesta family.

1415-1418: The council was a GREAT EVENT (perhaps the greatest event of this kind, after the big plague of 1348-50), which attracted a lot of visitors. Especially it caused, that a lot of musicians accompanied their patrons to Constance and exchanged the different music tastes of the various countries.

1420: Dufay came to Italy, at the Malatesta court.

Summer 1423: Alfonso of Aragon had arrived in Naples (1421) and was declared heir of queen Giovanna II. He arranged a musical (Trionfi) celebration around a big chariot, which was presented as a big elephant, involving songs and some firework, a magician at the chariot and some saracens. It also involved the opposition of a troop of Naples citizens (but this was not in the plan), and nearly an mmediate fight occurred. The wohle situation in short time escalated to an open war, which endured some longer period. Muzio Attendola and Braccio, the leading commanders in this fight, died in the course of the development (in 1424).

1424: The young Leon Battista Alberti writes a theater play "Philodoxus", in which twice Trionfi celebrations are mentioned (4th and 6th scene).
http://parnaseo2.uv.es/Celestinesca/Num ... umento.pdf

1425, June: Filippo Maria Visconti celebrates a Trionfo in Milan, possibly caused by the birth of his daughter Bianca Maria.
Before this event Carlo Malatesta had become prisoner of Filippo Maria Visconti (July 1424, maybe the reason, why Dufay left Rimini). Carlo's half-year-stay finished in great harmony with Filippo Maria Visconti, who seems to have enjoyed his presence very much. Possibly Visconti got a lot of optimistic ideas in this time.
Short after the Trionfo started the Milan-Venice war, which endured with interruptions for 30 years. Carlo Malatesta was invited to lead the Milanese army in an important battle. Venice and Carmagnola made 10.000 prisoners, between them Carlo Malatesta (Maclodio, October 1427).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maclodio

Well, there's the unsolved problem, when the Malatesta family took the elephant symbol in the heraldry. I found a local Rimini page, that claimed, that it would be old custom, cause also older Malatesta were presented with elephant helmet. However, researching "Malatesta" and "elephant" led only to pictures of medals, and this type of medal is said to have been invented around 1428 by Pisanello. So this an open topic.

It's definite, that the earlier Asian chess had an elephant figure, which was used similar to the old European chess bishop. It's also definite, that such elephant figures were known in Southern Italy rather early (13th century, likely due to close Saracen influence). Likely not everywhere, but in some regions the elephant appeared as a chess figure, which was used as a chess rook (this is proven for early 16th century) by the chess poem of Vida.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Girolamo_Vida

The Malatesta heraldry used chess-board stripes (that's likely rather old).

Image


Image


So Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta had anyway a reason, that the chess board scene in the Hesperides had some meaning and was not just decoration. The elephant might be a little bit insecure, but it seems to confirm the suspicion.
Perhaps one should study this passage.



btw. The strange trees around the 3 girls with chess boards look like chess figures ... as they were occasionally painted. I don't remember for the moment, where I've seen them.

Added:

http://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=A ... vs&f=false

It's in the eight book. For the moment I couldn't detect any chess reference. At page 173 he seems to speak of false elephants in connection to Fama.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

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Huck wrote:
So Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta had anyway a reason, that the chess board scene in the Hesperides had some meaning and was not just decoration.
No doubt about it. Moreover, by her direct gaze, the lady chess player at center solicits the viewer’s attention, while her accompanying, wide-toothed grin bespeaks the desire to share some private joke, perhaps.
Huck wrote:
1424: The young Leon Battista Alberti writes a theater play "Philodoxus", in which twice Trionfi celebrations are mentioned (4th and 6th scene).
http://parnaseo2.uv.es/Celestinesca/Num ... umento.pdf
Thank you for the link, Huck. The play makes for highly interesting reading. First, by its main theme in which a distinction is made between Fame (often won through riches and Fortune) and Glory (allowing one to transcend Fortune). Second, by its main setting, as introduced in Act I . . .
[A street in Rome, with three doors: in the center, an elegant one, with columns, leading to Doxia’s house; to the left, a half-ruined door to Ditonus’ house, next to which is a statue of Pluto; and to the right, a third door leading to Climarchus the barber’s establishment]
Alberti informs us that the love interest, Doxia, represents Glory. However, the meaning of the other two doors is not immediately clear.

We are told that Ditonus (aka Aphthonus in the earlier version), is an ex-slave of Tychia (Fortuna). Further, he personifies riches and wealth, “which provide the easiest means for attaining glory [fame?],” albeit requiring “calculation” in its acquisition [not necessarily a negative quality] and “unfaithful” to “harsh possessors.” Further, riches and wealth was an attribute of Pluto . . .
PLOUTOS (or Plutus) was the god of wealth. In agrarian Greece he was at first associated purely with bounty of rich harvests. Later he came to represent wealth in more general terms.
Ploutos was a son of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, who bore him after lying with the hero Iasion in a thrice-ploughed field. He was blinded by Zeus so he would distribute wealth indiscriminately and without favour towards the good or the virtuous.
The god was usually depicted as a boy holding a cornucopia filled with grain in the company of his mother Demeter. In sculpture he was often shown as an infant in the arms of either Eirene, the goddess of peace, or Tykhe, the goddess of fortune.
Ploutos was identified with Plouton, the god Haides in his role as the deity of the earth's hidden stores of wealth who was also depicted with a cornucopia in this guise.
http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Ploutos.html
In a search of the term, “Ditonus,” I got . . .
“In music, a ditone (Latin: ditonus, from Ancient Greek: δίτονος, "of two tones") is the interval of a major third. The size of a ditone varies according to the sizes of the two tones of which it is compounded. The largest is the Pythagorean ditone, with a ratio of 81:64, also called a comma-redundant major third; the smallest is the interval with a ratio of 100:81, also called a comma-deficient major third.”

http://www.cyclopaedia.info/wiki/Ditonus
In context, this conceivably relates to the two trumpets of Fama, as well as the “half-ruined door to Ditonus’ house.”

Allowing that my knowledge of Greek is even less than my Latin, for “Aphthonus,” I had less success. Speculating . . .
apo-, ap-, aph- (Greek: from, away from, asunder, separate, separation from, derived from) . . .

-thonus – perhaps, a variant of “tonus”?
Or for a close spelling . . .

Aphthonius of Antioch, known for his textbook on rhetoric . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphthonius_of_Antioch

. . . which Martianus Capella (De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii), for example, in his personification of this liberal art associated with the sword . . . For “Climarchus,” I wonder if it might be related to “Climacus” denoting (1) three musical notes in descending scale; (2) climax, ladder; or (3) Saint John Climacus (aka John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus, and John Sinaites)—the 7th Century Christian monk from the Monastery of Mount Sinai, later St. Catherine’s, who wrote the book, “Scala Paradisi” (or “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”) . . .
The Ladder describes how to raise one's soul and body to God through the acquisition of ascetic virtues. Climacus uses the analogy of Jacob's Ladder as the framework for his spiritual teaching. Each chapter is referred to as a "step", and deals with a separate spiritual subject. There are thirty Steps of the ladder, which correspond to the age of Jesus at his baptism and the beginning of his earthly ministry. Within the general framework of a 'ladder', Climacus' book falls into three sections. The first seven Steps concern general virtues necessary for the ascetic life, while the next nineteen (Steps 8–26) give instruction on overcoming vices and building their corresponding virtues. The final four Steps concern the higher virtues toward which the ascetic life aims. The final rung of the ladder—beyond prayer (προσευχή), stillness (ἡσυχία), and even dispassion (ἀπαθεία)—is love (ἀγάπη) [my emphasis]. . .
An icon known by the same title, Ladder of Divine Ascent, depicts a ladder extending from earth to heaven (cf. Genesis 28:12) Several monks are depicted climbing a ladder; at the top is Jesus, prepared to receive them into Heaven. Also shown are angels helping the climbers, and demons attempting to shoot with arrows or drag down the climbers, no matter how high up the ladder they may be. Most versions of the icon show at least one person falling. Often, in the lower right corner St. John Climacus himself is shown, gesturing towards the ladder, with rows of monastics behind him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Climacus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ladder ... ine_Ascent
But what of Climarchus’ purported trade as a barber or a “singular doctor in his practice with cattle and all quadrupeds—and with humans”? (Act VI)

Perhaps, this is a humorous reference to Renaissance depictions of the Triumph of Love, which at times show a prisoner, like Samson, with his hair being shorn. For example, we have the birth tray attributed to Apollonio di Giovanni (Florence; ca. 1460-70) . . .
triumph of love.jpg triumph of love.jpg Viewed 20897 times 110.15 KiB
On the other hand, this “barber” motif also occurs in the previously cited Jan van Eyck work, “Madonna with Canon van der Paele” (ca. 1436) on the side (left) relating to St. Donatian who, according to the artist’s inscription, “Enjoyed the Glory of God” . . .
The-Madonna-with-Canon-van-der-Paele-(details-1)-1436-large.jpg The-Madonna-with-Canon-van-der-Paele-(details-1)-1436-large.jpg Viewed 20896 times 26.23 KiB
Returning to Alberti, this “barber’s” services are sought when Philodoxus’ companion, Phroneus, acting as a decoy, feigns a drunken state and injury to the leg so that Philodoxus can sneak into Doxia’s house (Act VI). Phroneus’ association with wisdom/prudence (Cf. Alberti’s opening Commentary), combined with his drunken state might suggest a link with Dionysus’ companion, Silenus—a popular figure in Renaissance burlesque. Further, the triumph described in this scene, with its lions and panthers, might allude to a Dionysian procession.
PHRON. [Approaching the group] Woe is me!
DYN. Who is weeping here?
FORT. What do you want, you drunkard?
PHRON. [Aside] That’s just the kind of help I expected you to give. [He collapses]
FORT. How drunk he is! He’s so drunk he can’t stand up.
PHRON. O heavens, O gods! I’m begging for help. Oh, woe is me!
DIT. Get up. Don’t cry.
DYN. What’s wrong with you?
PHRON. I’m about to take my last breath.
DIT. Go on, speak: what is it?
PHRON. I’ll explain. I was looking for Philodoxus; but as I am approaching—oh, I hurt all over from the blow!
PHIL. [Still concealed.] I wonder what his wits will invent now?
DYN. Who hit you?
PHRON. I’ll tell you. Since the ambassadors from Africa had successfully concluded their business and were passing through the Forum with great pomp, I stopped to watch the parade, which you would have called a triumphal procession. There were trumpets, chariots, horses, lions, panthers, and—in short—remarkable and innumerable things, which it’s certainly worth the effort to see. Meanwhile, a boy was severely punishing an unruly horse with a stick and spurs. I don’t know how he managed it; I certainly know this: my leg is almost broken.
Phroneus’ possible link with both “Phronesis” as a type of wisdom/prudence, as well as the mythological figure of Phoroneus is also most intriguing . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phronesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoroneus

You’ll note that Phoroneus’ son (or successor) was Argus. Further, Alberti specifies that Philodoxus’ father was “Argos,” representing Prudence, whereas, his mother was Minerva, in this case, representing Study and Industry. But most interesting, I think, is Phoroneus’ association as the “fire-bringer” or the introduction of fire and the forge in context of Vitruvius’ speculations in his De Architectura relating to human evolution . . .
The men of old were born like the wild beasts, in woods, caves, and groves, and lived on savage fare. As time went on, the thickly crowded trees in a certain place, tossed by storms and winds, and rubbing their branches against one another, caught fire, and so the inhabitants of the place were put to flight, being terrified by the furious flame. After it subsided, they drew near, and observing that they were very comfortable standing before the warm fire, they put on logs and, while thus keeping it alive, brought up other people to it, showing them by signs how much comfort they got from it. In that gathering of men, at a time when utterance of sound was purely individual, from daily habits they fixed upon articulate words . . .

Therefore it was the discovery of fire that originally gave rise to the coming together of men, to the deliberative assembly, and to social intercourse. And so, as they kept coming together in greater numbers into one place, finding themselves naturally gifted beyond the other animals in not being obliged to walk with faces to the ground, but upright and gazing upon the splendour of the starry firmament, and also in being able to do with ease whatever they chose with their hands and fingers, they began in that first assembly to construct shelters. . .

Since they were of an imitative and teachable nature, they would daily point out to each other the results of their building, boasting of the novelties in it; and thus, with their natural gifts sharpened by emulation, their standards improved daily. . .

Furthermore, as men made progress by becoming daily more expert in building, and as their ingenuity was increased by their dexterity so that from habit they attained to considerable skill, their intelligence was enlarged by their industry until the more proficient adopted the trade of carpenters. From these early beginnings, and from the fact that nature had not only endowed the human race with senses like the rest of the animals, but had also equipped their minds with the powers of thought and understanding, thus putting all other animals under their sway, they next gradually advanced from the construction of buildings to the other arts and sciences, and so passed from a rude and barbarous mode of life to civilization and refinement.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ten_Books ... /Chapter_I

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

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... :-) ... nice, that you love it. I love it, too ...

I made my own analysis with a different approach. The play has 20 scenes. And I counted 20 figures "somehow" in the play, from which not all are present figures at the stage, but just names, and some of the present figures are silent figures or have a very short appearance ("Lepidus" I didn't count, with him it are 21 figures).

So I got the idea to judge, which figure (20 figures) might belong to which scene (20 scenes), and according this I would have a sort of hierarchical sequence ... similar to that of the Tarot cards. The idea was, that each of the figures would present an allegory.

The last scene was dominated by the otherwise silent trumpeter ... somehow as in Minchiate or in Tarot, when Fame or Angel has the last word. The hero clearly explains the mystery with his remark (begin 4th scene) ..
My journey is like a triumphal procession ...


I found the text in 2009 and wrote about it at AT. Then I transported my text to this place in 2012 ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=831&p=11853&hilit= ... xus#p11853

***************

Added: I analyzed, that there are 3 pairs in the major program (easy to see).

Doxia (Glory) ... Philodoxus

Phemia (Fame) ... Fortunius

Mnimia (Memory, or the "humble truth") ... Phroneus

About the Charles VI deck I've the opinion, that it it was made c. 1463 in Florence with Medici influence, especially for the young Lorenzo. No other deck presents 3 dancing pairs at the card Love.
Around 1460 Alberti wrote an educative text for the young Lorenzo, so he took some influence on the current situation.

Image


Phroneus is indeed the disguised author Alberti, who is the true hero.
Around 1424 (when the play was written) Alberti got sick, due to some family changes (the father had died, the financial situation became insecure). Alberti had lost his memory at this occasion ... Mnimia stands for Memory. Phroneus had lost his wife (memory) in the play and finds it again. Mnimia is described as being ugly, quite in contrast to the presentations of Fame and Glory. Nonetheless Phroneus prefers Mnimia, which is strong enough to save the situation (Scene XV).
Philodoxus: The reddish-haired, quarrelsome one, with a harsh expression, bulging eyes, sharp nose, pointed chin - the scrawny one? Golly, Phroneus, you have found a beautiful wife.


After Philodoxus detects, how useful Mnima can be ...
Oh, most beautiful Mnimia! O, wife most worthy to be loved by you!
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

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Huck wrote:About the Charles VI deck I've the opinion, that it it was made c. 1463 in Florence with Medici influence, especially for the young Lorenzo. No other deck presents 3 dancing pairs at the card Love.
Around 1460 Alberti wrote an educative text for the young Lorenzo, so he took some influence on the current situation.
I agree that the subject of the CVI Love card is a courting scene (likely 3 dancing pairs), but for a 13 year old male? Women, not men, married at an early age - already by 1428 the average marrying age in Florence was 34 (see Richard Trexler, "Ritual in Florence: Adolescence and Salvation in the Renaissance", in The Pursuit of Holiness in Late Medieval and Renaissance Religion, edited by Charles Edward Trinkaus, Heiko Augustinus Oberman, 1974: 235). Lorenzo's own father married at age 30 so there could not have been expectations for such an early marriage for Lorenzo. The fact that Lorenzo did in fact marry fairly early, at age 20 (still 7 years later than the posited year for the CVI), is easily explained by the political circumstances of his father Piero at the time of the marriage in 1469: Cosimo died in 1464 and then two years later in March 1466 the Medici's military protector Sforza died. Only five months after Sforza's death, on August 26 1466 Piero had to withstand a coup attempt led by Luca Pitti, Niccolò Soderini, Diotisalvi Neroni, Angelo Acciaiuoli and his cousin Pierfrancesco de' Medici, using troops provided by Borso d'Este, Duke of Modena and Reggio, and commanded by his brother Ercole d'Este. The point of Lorenzo's early and loveless marriage in February 1469 is obvious: he was paired with a successful condottieri family that could supplement the support from Milan, now on less sure grounds after the death of Francesco (especially with the machinations of other condottieri families such as the d'Este available to their enemies). Most significantly, the Orsini counted among their family members Giampaolo had led the papal forces at the battle of Anghiari, a victory of utmost importance for the Medici http://www.condottieridiventura.it/inde ... manoppello. Ergo, the marriage commemorated the Medici's former allied military successes at a time of perceived weakness and connected them through marriage to a family still important in matters of war and with the pope.

Of course the CVI Love card can only be considered in terms of the rest of that deck, which raises further issues for a proposed dating of 1463. What military threat in 1463 demanded an armored charioteer in nominally Republican Florence, defensive with his hand on his sword and halberd in other hand? More importantly, the Medici were not aliented from the pope in 1463 (that happened in the years leading up to and imediately after the Pazzi Conspiracy) - so however conventional, I find it highly unlikley that the Death card would feature the clergy trampled underfoot, not with the more generic precedence of the PMB Death card available from allied Milan.
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Finally, a text from 40 years or so before explains the CVI Love card? You'd have to show renewed interest in that text in the 1460s, but Piero was clearly commissioning different subjects at the time.

Phaeded

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

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hi Phaeded,

sorry, I've not much time for long discussions in the moment, and the next two weeks neither.

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The picture has 7-palle symbols, arranged around the feet of the charioteer. The 6-palle symbols possibly started around May 1465 with a French political action according which it was allowed to the Medici to fill one of the 6 palle with a French Lille. If one takes this is a background, it seems logical to date the deck "before 1465".

Louis XI had then (May 1465) political differences with Burgundy since recently and he was in search for Italian allies. Louis allied then also with Sforza, and Francesco ordered Galeazzo to his first military action to France. Galeazzo departed around the time of the start of Ippolita's bride journey (which was disrupted, cause Ferrante killed one of the younger Piccinino, a son-in-law to Francesco Sforza).

Lorenzo (born 1st of January) was 14 (not 13) in 1463, and with that "grown-up". He very early started to take public commissions then, I've read. His journey to Milan and earlier Ferrara (May 1465 again, Lorenzo then 16) had the character of an introduction to the high courts.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

47
Huck wrote: The picture has 7-palle symbols, arranged around the feet of the charioteer. The 6-palle symbols possibly started around May 1465 with a French political action according which it was allowed to the Medici to fill one of the 6 palle with a French Lille. If one takes this is a background, it seems logical to date the deck "before 1465".
Valid point Huck, however there is a problem in terms of the applicability here - they couldn't have possibly painted even one, much less three, fleur-de-lys on what is essentially a dab/dot of paint.

The closest parallel for a repeating sequence of palle in an equine/processional context is this:
Detail of Piero's stemma-bridle in Gozzoli's Magi Benozzo_Gozzoli,_cappella_dei_magi,_parete_est_dettaglio - Palle.jpg Detail of Piero's stemma-bridle in Gozzoli's Magi Viewed 20806 times 35.45 KiB
CVI chariot detail CVI-Chariot-pennants detail.jpg CVI chariot detail Viewed 20806 times 8.53 KiB
Phaeded

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

48
Interesting observation (at the Gozzoli picture). And the seven palle on the picture are from "before 1465". About the "Lille" I've read, that there are also arguments, that something like a "Florentine Lille" existed (a somehow contradicting information).
Actually there were much earlier French-Florentine relations from the time, when the Anjou spread in Italy during 13th century, perhaps the action of 1465 with a French/Florentine Lille was a symbol of a revival of earlier good relations, which became forgotten in the time, when France had reached a rather weak state at the begin of 15th century.

We have the condition, that Lucrezia Tornabuoni demanded a French theme from Luigi Pulci in 1460, which he realized with the Morgante, perhaps in the context, that the Medici searched urgently for some good French connections already then. Many Florentine merchants had an interest in this French business relations.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

49
Hi guys. I'm about ready to join the world again, slowly coming down from my high after 3 weeks in Italy. I will be posting pictures at some point, of obscure artworks relevant to THF discussions.

Huck wrote,
About the "Lille" I've read, that there are also arguments, that something like a "Florentine Lille" existed (a somehow contradicting information).
On the Florentine lily, there is a nice historical piece, but non-scholarly, at http://www.thatsflorence.com/discoverin ... -florence/. It was originally a white lily on a red background, according to that article, but when the Florentine Ghibbelines displayed that symbol as their own in exile, the Guelphs adopted the red lily on a white background. I had read before that the Guelphs had the one and the Ghibbelines the other--we're talking 13th century here, before Dante's maturity-- but I hadn't known which was first. I don't think it matters for our purposes.

A familiar example from before the Charles VI is Di Paolo's illumination of Dante's Sphere of Venus, which shows red lilies above the gates of Florence, identifiable by Bruneleschi's dome, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradiso_% ... _paolo.jpg. Wikipedia says these illuminations (Sienese, of course) were done 1441-1445 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_di_Paolo).

According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis, the difference between the Florentine lily and the French fleur-de-lis is that the Florentine one has the stamens.
In Florentine fleurs-de-lis,[f] the stamens are always posed between the petals. This heraldic charge is often known as the Florentine lily to distinguish it from the conventional (stamen-less) design. As an emblem of the city, it is therefore found in icons of its patron saint, Zenobius.[6] The currency of Florence, the fiorino, was decorated with it.
So we have, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florin_%28 ... o_1347.jpg. You can see these lilies in the other links, too.

Re: Minchiate Francesi / Poilly decks

50
mikeh wrote:Hi guys. I'm about ready to join the world again, slowly coming down from my high after 3 weeks in Italy. I will be posting pictures at some point, of obscure artworks relevant to THF discussions.

Huck wrote,
About the "Lille" I've read, that there are also arguments, that something like a "Florentine Lille" existed (a somehow contradicting information).
On the Florentine lily, there is a nice historical piece, but non-scholarly, at http://www.thatsflorence.com/discoverin ... -florence/. It was originally a white lily on a red background, according to that article, but when the Florentine Ghibbelines displayed that symbol as their own in exile, the Guelphs adopted the red lily on a white background. I had read before that the Guelphs had the one and the Ghibbelines the other--we're talking 13th century here, before Dante's maturity-- but I hadn't known which was first. I don't think it matters for our purposes.

A familiar example from before the Charles VI is Di Paolo's illumination of Dante's Sphere of Venus, which shows red lilies above the gates of Florence, identifiable by Bruneleschi's dome, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradiso_% ... _paolo.jpg. Wikipedia says these illuminations (Sienese, of course) were done 1441-1445 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_di_Paolo).

According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis, the difference between the Florentine lily and the French fleur-de-lis is that the Florentine one has the stamens.
In Florentine fleurs-de-lis,[f] the stamens are always posed between the petals. This heraldic charge is often known as the Florentine lily to distinguish it from the conventional (stamen-less) design. As an emblem of the city, it is therefore found in icons of its patron saint, Zenobius.[6] The currency of Florence, the fiorino, was decorated with it.
So we have, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florin_%28 ... o_1347.jpg. You can see these lilies in the other links, too.
Well, our relevant point is the situation of May 1465. Somebody (I don't remember the precise conditions in the moment) interpreted, that the change of 7 palle to 6 palle with the inclusion of the Lille in one of the palle, was invented in the shield of the Medici according a politcal agreement between Medici and Louis XI, caused by the conflict between Louis XI and Burgundy.
If this is correct, and the Medici included the Lille since then and not before, the national heraldic device ""Florentine Lille" might have played a background function, but nothing else. Perhaps the earlier Florentine Lille already depended on the French Lille ... the Anjou, which manifested in Italy in the second half of 13th century had friends in Florence. Then French citizens settled in Italy. It might well be, that the Medici in 1465 and already some time before were interested in a re-manifestation of the earlier friendship with France, which had overcome in the meantime a strong loss of international acceptance in the early time of king Charles VII.

We have to remember, that around 1459 Cosimo thought it plausible, that he should promote the Anjou interests against the young Naples king Ferrante, but Sforza opposed the suggestion. Sforza had the understanding, that too much French influence in Italy would be dangerous, in contrast a weak Ferrante with not much Spanish help could be controlled.
Huck
http://trionfi.com
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