Another "Game of Prints"
Posted: 14 Oct 2009, 21:43
Below is an illustration of a real pageant car from 1616 Stuttgart. Here is some background:
The book from which it was taken illustrates that 1616 pageant in great detail. There are several other potentially interesting allegorical subjects depicted, but I don't know of a detailed description of the whole event nor of this image in particular.
Repræsentatio der furstlichen Aufzug und Ritterspiel
http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?imgtyp=1&d ... -geom-2f-1
I post this as another "Game of Prints" because the reading above is just my interpretation. It seems likely that others would come to different conclusions as to the translation as well as the source and meaning of the allegory. Most folks here have more knowledge of classical subjects than I do, and I don't even know Latin, so this is naturally suspect. (For example, while Anima is the Latin for Psyche, it's already been suggested to me that this is an inappropriate reading, that even in a Latin motto the name Psyche would be used.) Any suggestions? Some basic identifications need to be made, including not only the figures I have attempted but also the three winged figures and their attributes.
In any case, it is another interesting allegorical use of the Hanged Man motif outside of Tarot.
Best regards,
Michael
My speculative reading of this image is based on Apuleius' tale of Cupid and Psyche. It shows a Triumph of Venus. Rather than being naked, Venus is clothed in a leafy gown, presumably because a real person is being depicted and that is how she appeared in the pageant. Venus' triumphal car is pulled by swans across water. The musicians are part of the tale in which Cupid seduces Psyche. Cupid is shown as Venus' captive, being punished for his betrayal of her instructions re Psyche. The motto on the covered figure would be translated as "Cupid's sleeping Psyche". Cupid was to prick Psyche with his arrow while she slept. Psyche is covered from head to toe so that her beauty does not offend the vain Venus. That offense, being more beautiful than Venus, was the starting point of the story.Allegorical entertainments during festivities held in Stuttgart in 1616 by Duke Johann Friedrich of Württemberg on the occasion of his son's baptism. Princely festivities with tournaments and carnival-like parades with imaginative tableaux served a ceremonial function and were attended by numerous invited guests from other princely courts. The festivities at Stuttgart lasted for eight days and resulted in a publication of 77 plates, most of them done by the engraver Matthæus Merian, who later became famous as a publisher of topographical works. It was published in 1616 by the artist Esaias van Hulsen with the title Repræsentatio der furstlichen Aufzug und Ritterspiel. (Allegorical Entertainment)
The book from which it was taken illustrates that 1616 pageant in great detail. There are several other potentially interesting allegorical subjects depicted, but I don't know of a detailed description of the whole event nor of this image in particular.
Repræsentatio der furstlichen Aufzug und Ritterspiel
http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?imgtyp=1&d ... -geom-2f-1
I post this as another "Game of Prints" because the reading above is just my interpretation. It seems likely that others would come to different conclusions as to the translation as well as the source and meaning of the allegory. Most folks here have more knowledge of classical subjects than I do, and I don't even know Latin, so this is naturally suspect. (For example, while Anima is the Latin for Psyche, it's already been suggested to me that this is an inappropriate reading, that even in a Latin motto the name Psyche would be used.) Any suggestions? Some basic identifications need to be made, including not only the figures I have attempted but also the three winged figures and their attributes.
In any case, it is another interesting allegorical use of the Hanged Man motif outside of Tarot.
Best regards,
Michael