More info from King on Marcello:
The Fortebraccio was indeed Carlo, who wrote a consolatory dialgue (Dialogus consolatorius) - one of many authors who similar onr the death of Marcello's son Valerio: "He will display to Marcello his 'triumphs,' the author exclaims, in order to lessen his sorrows....the maerial is drawn, as the author himself acknowledges, from a letter Guarino Veronese wrote to Marcello in 1458...." (51).
As for Marcello/Monselice: "...Monselice was purchasedby unnamed members of tghe Marcello family: certainly by 1441, when the first of Jacopo Antonio's sojourn is noted there." (61).
The detailed chronology in King's appendix 2 (easily 1/5th of her book - worth purchasing it for this alone as a detailed reference for this time period) states that for "1441: 6 July. "Senate letter to Jacopo Antonio Marcello, 'our citizen in Monselice,' expressing confidence in his loyaty, instructs him to go with up to ten horses immediately to Vicenza, at the Senate's expense and only for a few days, to accompany Sforza and proceed as far as the Adige to assess the situation." (254). Sforza was merely the means to Venice's terrafirma plans against the Visconti and of course they eventually moved onto Colleoni after Sforza's final defection (or rather self-annointment as the new duke of Milan). For more details on Sforza's involvement with Venice I highly recommend The Likeness of Venice: A Life of Doge Francesco Foscari by Dennis Romano (2007).
Speaking of timelines...
Huck, everything in your timeline pales in comparison to what the triumph at Anghiari meant for the rulers (not in name, but in reality) of Florence, the Medici. Again, both the age-old nemesis of the city, the Visconti, were defeated as well as the Albizzi faction; this cemented Cosimo’s rule. I will add the concession that the church played an active role in the battle via Cardinal Trevisan and thus they would have been included in the triumphal productions (and why in my opinion the theological virtues would have been included in the Anghiari deck and that the later wedding deck for Sforza/Bianca of 1441 – just a year later – simply retained them).Huck wrote: Well, there are a few things between 1418 - 1440:
1418: new pope in Milan, likely new books in Italy and other general influences from the council of Constance.
1423: Jubilee year ... which should mean traffic and tourism and festivities.
1423: Triumphal festivity by Alfonso and Jeanne of Naples. Two weeks later the both have war with each other.
1424: Philodoxus of Alberti, theater play in Bologna. Twice are mentioned "triumphal processions".
1425: Trionfi of Filippo Maria Visconti in Milan
1431-33: Emperor Sigismondo in Italy
1433: Masquerade with Greek gods in Ferrara, possibly in relation to a wedding between a Parisina daughter and young Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta.
(Generally the period 1425-1440 must be regarded as a time of war, which with only short pauses didn't allow too much festivities.)
1438: Council in Ferrara
1439: Council in Florence
The assumption that many on this board have made that trionfi somehow “naturally” evolved out of the common card playing milieu is completely unfounded. Commoners were not the authors of triumphs in any sense and the earliest known decks are associated with condottieri (Malatesta and Sforza); both of these facts point to signoria using trionfi cards as an additional/propagandistic means to commemorate condotte with their generals. And without any earlier references to trionfi we have to seriously consider that the Anghiari deck was the first trionfi deck ever produced. The Medici curried favour with the commoners (much more so than the Albizzi faction) and thus would have used popular cards as a means to disseminate their triumphal imagery that way (perhaps with less expensive decks and with their own arms). I would also posit that Francesco Sforza, although not at Anghiari, was the overall leader of the Florentine/Venetian campaign against the Visconti in 1440 and would have most likely received the original trionfi deck, commissioned by the Medici themselves. Then the notary from Anghiari followed suit in commissioning a similar deck for a lesser condottiere associated with the campaign – with that general’s arms (Malatesta) – as a means of currying favour for his military kinsfolk who ended up working for Malatesta.
Phaeded