Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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Hi, Kwaw,
Hankins wrote:But what counts as a healthy state for Uberto is far different from Plato's account. For Uberto, the natural commonwealth is not a city-state, but a regional state (like Milan) made up of interdependent cities and their surrounding territories; only when a state has the resources of several urbes vel nationes can it truly be independent. Whereas for Plato, the healthy state, being simple in its desires, has no need for foreign trade, for Uberto the economy of a healthy state is highly diversified, and needs merchants, roads, inns, seaports, shipyards, and a merchant marine as well as a variety of other trades.
Excellent. Thanks.

Best regards,
Michael
We are either dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, or we are just dwarfs.

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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Yes, Steve, excellent.(And also the images you posted.) My apologies for not citing your ATF comments earlier; I couldn't remember where they were.

However I am not convinced that the analysis applies to the foreground of the CY "World" card as well as to the background.

I have been reading more about how popular the Arthurian romances were in mid-century Italy, in Cecil Clough's "Chivalry and Magnificence in the Golden Age of the Italian Renaissance," (Chivalry in the Renaissance, ed. Sydney Anglo, 1990). (The "Golden Age" for him goes from the Peace of Lodi to the French invasion.) Here are a couple of quote:
At least until the French invasions the courtiers of the condottieri princes tended to be their military captains, some of whom were from the powerful families of their state. Romances of chivalry were the literary diet for such rulers and their entourage at the dawn of the golden age... (p. 35)

Between 1447 and 1455 at the latest [in Mantua] Pisanello had worked on an enormous fresco cycle to cover the walls of one of the rooms of the Gonzaga Palace, a part of which was known as the Castello di San Giorgio, be it noted. The themes are Arthurian, the recovered portion concerning Tristram in particular. It is supposed that the room was to be furnished with a Round Table and that it reflected Marquis Ludovico's passion for chilvary, fed on the literature available in the Gonzaga Library. (p. 41)
It is known that Duke Filippo Visconti enjoyed "French romances" (Rabil, "Humanism in Milan," in Renaissance Humanism Vol 1, p. 243). And there is the set of illustrations of a Grail romance done around the same time and place, in the same artistic style as the Cary-Yale.

Here is some more from Clough:
In princely courts there were genuine jousts witnessed by the public. At one such in the winter of 1450 held to commemorate Francesco Sforza becoming ruler of Milan, Federico da Montefeltro insisted on challenging a champion to joust in real armour and with a steel lance. With chivalric flamboyance Federico wore his visor up and sported the favour of his lady (who he probably had seduced under a blasted oak). The consequence, which Federico saw as Divine punishment, was the splintered bridge of his nose and the loss of his right eye, with which we are so familiar. Thereafter Federico himself did not participate, but such displays continued to be held in his state. (p. 44f)

...Borso d'Este had been genuinely dedicated to chivalric romances, but the interest of his brother, Ercole, who succeeded him in 1471, was in the cult of Antiquity.(p. 45)
The point is that the condottiere princes of the beginning of the Golden Age found the Arthurian material to their taste and admired chivalric ideals. Their sons and younger brothers preferred antiquity and regarded chivalry as part of the dark ages, but still gave it lip service and used it to bolster their regimes.

In the Grail stories, the part about Sir Perceval's meeting with the Fisher King is so prominent that I can't imagine that anyone familiar with them wouldn't take the fisherman as the Fisher King and the knight on the other side as Perceval (or some other knight, in other versions). In Chretien's version, the Fisher King is in a boat with another man, and he invites Perceval to spend the night at the castle. On the card he's on the bank, and he sends someone to do the inviting, along with a rower, or it's himself at a later time. The particular arrangement on the CY might reflect some personal meaning attached to a particular occasion for which that deck was made. But the general theme of the grail knight and the Fisher King would have been the one most readily identified with this card in a CY-type deck generally, it seems to me.

One other thing: the lady in the CY card is holding a crown. That the crown was given to the monk who reached the top of the "ladder of virtue", as the object of Hope's desire, counts in favor of the view that this card would have been the last in the sequence, even though Fame was not the last in the Petrarchan sequence.

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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SteveM wrote:The virtues over vices tradition brings up an interesting question about the cary yale visconti virtues Fortitude, Hope, Faith and Charity btw which was previously raised in a discussion on AT with Lorredan -- The theological virtues show the corresponding vices, but Fortitude does not -- if they were part of the same set wouldn't one expect that they would follow the same iconographic pattern (ie, all would show their corresponding vices) ?
Just saw this. Couldn't he lion itself represent the corresponding vice? In Aristotle, courage is the golden mean between timidity and rashness; but in a more Christian reading, wouldn't courage be an antidote to anger? The medieval rhetoric is of each virtue defeating its specific vice; but the classical rhetoric seems more of virtues controlling vices. There might be room in the same deck for depictions in both styles.

I have to say I'm beginning to like the idea that the original framing device for the sequence of triumphs might have been the chivalric quest. The questing knight is called upon to triumph over vices, temptations, enemies, injustices and everyday ills. The end of the quest is fame, salvation and enlightenment rolled into one. Moreover, by the 1480s, this framing device would have been unfashionable, leaving the images up in the air, and ready for reinterpretation. Finally, it also ties the triumph cards back to the court cards, since the questing knight is no longer part of a court, but released to roam beyond the various suits-kingdoms.

The only problem is that there is little trace of the questing hero. At a stretch, Miserio might be Tristan; but neither the Bagatto, nor the Devil to Sun sequence seems to fit this framework. Are there any questing knight tales where the heroes rise through the spheres as well? (Satires from Orlando to Muenchhausen excluded)

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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Jim Schulman wrote:
SteveM wrote:The virtues over vices tradition brings up an interesting question about the cary yale visconti virtues Fortitude, Hope, Faith and Charity btw which was previously raised in a discussion on AT with Lorredan -- The theological virtues show the corresponding vices, but Fortitude does not -- if they were part of the same set wouldn't one expect that they would follow the same iconographic pattern (ie, all would show their corresponding vices) ?
Just saw this. Couldn't he lion itself represent the corresponding vice?
In the context of the established tradition which the three theological virtues follow as represented in the CY Visconti, the corresponding vice for Fortitude would be a representation of Holoferne (of Judith chopped of his head fame). The point is that fortitude is not represented in accordance with the tradition to which the other three existing (non-standard tarot virtues) are. I suspect it was unusual to represent a set of virtues belonging to one work of any kind with different traditions of representation, but a search may prove me wrong - it may have been quite common. Does anyone know of any other instance where the theological virtues are shown with the vice-kings convention but the rest of the virtues in the same work were not?

OT: Here is another representation of the virtues, this time beneath the allegorized female representations are not vices, but male exemplars -- I can't identify them all without looking them up -- but the figure under fortitude (with her unbroken column) with jaw bone and broken column is clearly Samson:

Image


A high resolution version can be viewed here:
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/wi ... irtues.jpg

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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SteveM wrote
Kings representing vices overcome by the virtues had an established tradition:

quote:
The idea of making certain famous men incarnations of Vices seems to have come from Italy. J. von Schlosser has cited two fourteenth-century manuscripts, both Italian, in which the Virtues trample heretics, philosophers and tyrants. Justice has Nero underfoot; Fortitude has Holofernes; Temperance has Epicurus; Prudence, Saranapalus; Charity, Herod; Hope, Judas; Faith, Arius...

The Hours of Simon Vostre [c1507] contains the first French examples of the Virtues crushing their most famous enemies underfoot. Faith has Mahomet under hers, Hope has Judas, Charity has Herod, Prudence has Sardanapalus, Temperance has Tarquinius, Justice has Nero, Fortitude has Holofernes. We see that only two names, Machomet and Tarquinius, differ from those found in the Italian manuscripts. The relation thus seems clear and presupposes numerous intermediaries. end quote from:
Religious Art in France: the Late Middle Ages by Emile Mâle, translated by Marthiel Matthews. Princeton University Press, 1986
And:
From an Allegory of Virtues and Vices c.1355 by Nicolas de Bologna in a manuscript in the Ambrosian Library, Milan.

Image


Note too the order : Justice, Fortitude, Temperance.
And
:
Jim Schulman wrote:
SteveM wrote:The virtues over vices tradition brings up an interesting question about the cary yale visconti virtues Fortitude, Hope, Faith and Charity btw which was previously raised in a discussion on AT with Lorredan -- The theological virtues show the corresponding vices, but Fortitude does not -- if they were part of the same set wouldn't one expect that they would follow the same iconographic pattern (ie, all would show their corresponding vices) ?
Just saw this. Couldn't he lion itself represent the corresponding vice?
In the context of the established tradition which the three theological virtues follow as represented in the CY Visconti, the corresponding vice for Fortitude would be a representation of Holoferne (of Judith chopped of his head fame). The point is that fortitude is not represented in accordance with the tradition to which the other three existing (non-standard tarot virtues) are. I suspect it was unusual to represent a set of virtues belonging to one work of any kind with different traditions of representation, but a search may prove me wrong - it may have been quite common. Does anyone know of any other instance where the theological virtues are shown with the vice-kings convention but the rest of the virtues in the same work were not?

OT: Here is another representation of the virtues, this time beneath the allegorized female representations are not vices, but male exemplars -- I can't identify them all without looking them up -- but the figure under fortitude (with her unbroken column) with jaw bone and broken column is clearly Samson:

Image


A high resolution version can be viewed here:
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/wi ... irtues.jpg
The image you (Steve) posted by Nicolas da Bologna is discussed in Leon Dorez, La Canzone delle Virtu e della Scienze, p. 83, at http://books.google.com/books?id=7tIOAA ... ze&f=false
the image itself is on p. 81. Note also the chart on p. 82: all examples where Fortitudo has Holoferne. It would seem that these examples (including the ones on p. 82) differ from the French example mentioned by Mâle in two respects: besides having Arius as the opposite of Faith (Arius Hereticus, the author of the Arian Heresy), it has Epicurus as the opposite of Temperance.

The kings below the CY Faith and Charity (and the Judas below Hope) are probably exemplars of the opposite vice: Judas for despair, Mahomet (as the slightly legible letters on the card might suggest, although Cicognara maintained it was "Martiano") for heresy (as in the French example), and Herod for lack of charity (the slaughter of the infants). However Holoferene is not an exemplar of the opposite of Fortitude, but rather the one overcome by an exemplar of Fortitude. So one possible answer to Steve's question is this: Rather than suggest that Holoferne was a coward, he leaves him off.

This is not actually an answer to Steve's question, merely more references and some speculation. Perhaps someone with a better command of Italian than I will find something else in Dorez's book. Meanwhile I will continue searching for more examples of virtues trouncing vices--or not.

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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When SteveM and I discussed on AT the Cary Yale Strength and the lack of Stomped on Vice in that card- I looked forever for
Does anyone know of any other instance where the theological virtues are shown with the vice-kings convention but the rest of the virtues in the same work were not?
and could not find one instance.
I came to the conclusion that both the Cary-Yale and the PMB, and for that matter Tarot de Marseille style cards of Strength,
was the so called 4th Civic Virtue of Magnificence- the power and ability to do great things. Aquinas said this Virtue belonged to God- but could be shared by Man. Dante also said it was the 4th Virtue. It comes under the umbrella Fortitude because it regards the undertaking of great things and actions, and persevering even when circumstances can make their realization arduous and difficult. Like the building of Canals and cathedrals and large feasts and Parades. Mostly it would cover Public Charity works like Hospitals and Universities etc.
~Lorredan
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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I have this old book called "Wonders of Italy" (1925) The great thing about it is that it has many images that are not around anymore- but all the pictures are really thumbnails. It has a section on Giotto's Campanile (belltower) in Florence. Giotto had been appointed architect in 1334. The signory asked him to prepare plans for the belltower adjoining the Church. His design was approved and a decree was passed that read in part...
The campanile should be built as to exceed in virtuous Magnificence, height and excellence of workmanship everything of the kind that had been achieved of old by the Greeks and Romans when at the zenith of their greatness.
Giotto died in 1337 and his plans were strictly adhered to by Andrea Pisano. Each side has 7 lozenges and 7 Bas reliefs. The subjects form a cycle that is decribed this way....
Man is created and finds himself within the realms of nature. He devises means to satisfy firstly his bodily, then his intellectual, then his asthetic needs. His innate character depends on heavenly influences transmitted by the Planets (as taught by Dante and the schoolmen), but by the religious and ethical virtues, and by the aid of the Sacraments, he can rise above his inborn defects and realise true life. Joseph Fatorusso
The Virtues are
Faith with Cross and Chalice
Charity with Pear and Cornicopia
Hope with anchor (but it looks like a tree uprooted lol)
Prudence with snake and mirror
Justice with Sword and Scales
Temperance with two Jugs
Fortitude with cudgel and Lion (not like Tarot- but like Cybele lion throne)
The bas reliefs designed by Giotto but executed by Pisano are called the secon stage of Society.
~Lorredan
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: Revisiting Petrarch and Giotto

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I'm no art historian, so please indulge my use of improper terminology. Classical painting featured naturalistic scenes set in a physical space, as well as processional works (e.g. Parthenon friezes and Trajan's Column) that put iconic figures in a sequence. Byzantine and medieval art takes the processional form of antiquity and turned it into a quasi-literary form. When you get a processional graphic in which each figure is of the same species (all virtues), and each has exactly the same iconography (a metaphoric female virtue triumphing over a historic male vice), you have the apotheosis of good medieval litero-pictorial style -- elegant parallel construction applied to every graphic detail.

But this processional style is loosening up in the 1400s Italy. In a hundred years time, a history painting will show little trace of the processional form; but in this period, a painting like Mantegna's Triumph of the Virtues has a mix of processional and spatial elements. Would a deck painted between 1430 and 1460s be required to follow the strict and elegant medieval high processional form; or could it be a little looser?