Andrea Alciati's Sequence

[Ross G. R. Caldwell]

b. it's unusual, cause this "sort of Temperance" is called Fame

c. the use of Fame indicates, that this Temperance had wings, and wings are rare for Temperance, as far I see it, for this early time

d. it had led us to think about Fama Sol or Sol Fama in the Vieville and the Belgian Tarocchi, and we found such passages for Folengo and Boiardo

But since Vieville's deck and the Belgian Tarot (I'm sure they never called it a "tarocchi") don't have wings on their "Fama Sol" card, it would seem that this correspondence with Alciato's "Fama" gives a slight edge to the interpretation that his Fama did not have wings.

In other words, his card could well have looked like Vieville's.

Part of the problem is the search for a winged Temperantia (when the other virtues are not "winged"). For the moment I found this as the earliest:

Temperanzia / Majollica Faenza 1565-75

If, as you stated above, the problem is to look for series of Cardinal Virtues where only Temperance has wings, then the majolica example is not relevant, since no other Virtue is present.

I do not recall, offhand, any examples where there is a series of Cardinal Virtues including Temperance, and only Temperance has wings (outside of the Tarot de Marseille itself, of course).

I may have to correct that statement, since Michael has long collected examples of winged Temperance, but for the moment all I can remember are series where all or most of the virtues depicted have wings as well.

[mikeh]

I have relayed the typo about "caupo" to Andrea for correction--he sends his thanks--as well as another one, the spelling of the Greek "tarachos" in footnote 12 of the same essay (erroneously spelled "tarochos" in the English version).

My knowledge of Latin is minimal. I mostly rely on Andrea's translations and just focus on his Italian. That, too, is not a language I know very well; however I can usually figure out what the English should be, as long as Andrea gives me feedback. If anyone spots further errors, please let me know. And if anyone knows any good online dictionaries for Renaissance Italian besides Florio's, I'd appreciate knowing..

Ross wrote,

I do not recall, offhand, any examples where there is a series of Cardinal Virtues including Temperance, and only Temperance has wings (outside of the Tarot de Marseille itself, of course).

I certainly don't. A good example where more than Temperance is winged is the one Marco put on tarotpedia at http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Image:Temperance01.jpg. But I find it frustrating that we frequently don't see all of the virtues that are represented, or whatever is in the work of art. For example, Robert's at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=71&hilit=temperance&start=30#p1798; since this was done by the same workshop as Marco's, I assume the other virtues are winged, too. But what about the Giovanni Bellini at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=71&p=1811&hilit=temperance#p1811? Is that the whole painting? Is it one of a series? Looking on the Web, it apparently has the title "virtue", but it would seem to be of Temperance in particular. If it's just her, is the date of the painting, c. 1500, an indication of when Temperance in the tarot got wings as well?

[mikeh]

One thing that might be relevant to Alciato's Temperance is a series of the seven virtues in which only one has wings, namely, Karitas, which is also the highest virtue. See p. 126 and p. 127 at http://books.google.com/books?id=7tIOAA ... &q&f=false. This is in Bartolomeo di Bartoli da Bologna's Canzone delle Virtu e delle Scienze, done, I think Dorez says (p. 71), in Bologna around 1355, dedicated to Bruzio Visconti.

The relevance is that when the three theological virtues were omitted, and Temperance was elevated to the highest position among the virtues (indeed, as Moderation representative of all of them), and even higher than Death, then perhaps Karitas got assimilated with Temperance, so that Temperance's vessels became the symbol of God's mercy in the Eucharist. (I think I am adding this Karitas, with her wings, to something Michael has said.) She would be an "angel of mercy", so to speak. Her vessels would also be the way to Fama, in the sense of Gloria, and to Sol, in the sense of God (who stands behind Karitas on p. 127).

It might also be of interest to know what this particular manuscript was doing, between Italy and France (it is now at Chantilly), in the early 16th century.

[Huck]

A good example where more than Temperance is winged is ...

Thanks Mike. I transferred your info to Temperance ..
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=397&p=12519#p12519

[Huck]

But since Vieville's deck and the Belgian Tarot (I'm sure they never called it a "tarocchi") don't have wings on their "Fama Sol" card, it would seem that this correspondence with Alciato's "Fama" gives a slight edge to the interpretation that his Fama did not have wings.

In other words, his card could well have looked like Vieville's.

Agreed. Naturally the distance between Milan and Paris/Belgium is more far than the distance to Florence, where Fame (possibly) existed with wings, so maybe the possibilit "Fama with wings" could be considered "more likely".

If, as you stated above, the problem is to look for series of Cardinal Virtues where only Temperance has wings, then the majolica example is not relevant, since no other Virtue is present.

One can't rely on the condition, that virtues always appeared in groups of 4 or 7. For engravings is often typical, that there are 7, but I don't know about majolica.
Anyway, one has to take the findings, as one gets them. I was happy to see this picture without indication, that there were also virtues presented.
In the case of Spes there are examples, where Spes is the only virtue of 3 or 7, which has wings.