Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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Well, there is this old diamond discussion 7 years ago, about which my mind lost the details ...

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viewtopic.php?f=12&t=334&p=5346&hilit=b ... mond#p5346

There are very old diamond stories ... how it fits together is not clear.

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Google comment:
A Little-Known Manuscript Dated 1471, made for Ercole d'Este, Duke ...
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia 4285 × 1909
... by the author, Baptista Massa of Argenta (south-east of Ferrara), and in the lower margin one of Ercole's emblems, a diamond ring with a carnation:
http://www.collegeofphysicians.org/hist ... ated-1471/

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http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/expor ... 43416.html

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Google comment:
Bibbia di Borso d'Este, Emblema estense dell'nello diamantato affiancato da coppia di cardellini, Vol. II, C. 117v
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Last edited by Huck on 09 Feb 2017, 22:55, edited 2 times in total.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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Huck wrote:Well, there is this old diamond discussion 7 years ago, about which my mind lost the details ...

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=334&p=5346&hilit=b ... mond#p5346

There are very old diamond stories ... how it fits together is not clear.
A tentative timeline is fairly simple - Sforza gets the device from his dowry city of Cremona and then gifts it when the symbol becomes conflated with the Duchy of Milan after he takes it:
1. Sforza uses it as lord of Cremona (previously on an early Quattrocento coin in which it supposedly stood for the alliance of the Pope, Emperor and local lord - the last pushed out of a tower; so much for the alliance)
2. Sforza gifts the 3 ring symbol to the Medici after his conquest of Milan in 1450, taken up by Piero for a personal imprese in a purely Papal/Guelph sense - 3 theological colors/feathers on a single ring.
3. Sforza gifts the 3 ring symbol to the son of Vitiliano Borromeo, Filippo, also in c.1450 while reconfirming him in possession of the critical Lago Maggiore fortresses of Arona and Angera (on a side note: Filelfo dedicated 'On Exile' to Vitiliano in 1440 which spews invectives at the Medici, while holding up Vitiliano as a contrasting paragon of virtue. Another odd connection between the Borromeo and Medici is that the Apollonio cassone featuring the joust in Santa Croce was for a wedding between a Medici partisan and a member of the Borromeo [again, see the Lurati article]. The Borromeo obviously helped bankroll the bankrupt Duchy along with the Medici, both receiving the favor of the 3-ring imprese - considering Borromeo were Ghibiline and Medici Guelph perhaps the 3-ring device maintained the original meaning in a sort of symbol of peace between Pope, Emperor and Sforza...at least imagined so by the Sforza chancellery).

The d'Este single ring symbol with zinnia flower a parallel development? But given their alliance with Malatesta, enemy of Alessandro, what could have been the event that had them gift their symbol to Alessandro, successfully besieging Gradara in 1463 with Montefeltro (allied since 1460 with the wedding to Alessandro's daughter, Battista)? Perhaps the d'Este simply recognized an accomplished fact after the official Papal conveyance of Gradara to Alessandro in 1464? A 'sign of friendship' with a potential nearby enemy, placing them uncomfortably between the Sfora of Pesaro and Sforza of Milan.

Anyone have details (a date) on the conferring of the device by the d'Este on Alessandro?

Thanks,
Phaeded

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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Phaeded wrote: Anyone have details (a date) on the conferring of the device by the d'Este on Alessandro?
I thought it was awarded to his father (Muzio Sforza) by Niccolo III d'Este? At least, I am pretty sure that is what I read somewhere ---- can't find it now, but I think somewhere along the same lines as I was following the Carrara family I referenced in posts above (Gigliola da Carrara, daughter of Francesco II da Carrara the Lord of Padua, being Niccolo's first wife)
Last edited by SteveM on 09 Feb 2017, 23:02, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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SteveM wrote:
Phaeded wrote: Anyone have details (a date) on the conferring of the device by the d'Este on Alessandro?
I thought it was awarded to his father (Muzio Sforza) by Niccolo III d'Este? At least, I am pretty sure that is what I read somewhere ---- can't find it now, but I think somewhere along the same lines as I was following the Carrara family I referenced in posts above (Gigliola da Carrara, daughter of Francesco II da Carrara the Lord of Padua, being Niccolo's first wife)
Not the source I was thinking of, but confirmed in Dummet:

Michael Dummet, chapter 3, "Il Mondo e L'Angelo"

"Niccolò III d'Este aveva concesso l'uso dell'impresa dell'anello con il diamante a Muzio Attendolo, il padre di Francesco e Alessandro Sforza."

edited to add:

MikeH provides the original Dummet text with translation here:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1019&p=15162&hilit=1428#p15160

edited (again) to add:

quote"
"On the arrival of Rupert III., King of the Romans, in Italy,
with the intention of humbling his Milanese vassal, Sforza
headed the Florentine contingent that was sent to his aid.
Rupert II L soon swelled the ranks of Sforza's admirers, and
before they parted he granted him the right of bearing his own
arms, namely, a lion rampant. The citizens of Cotignola had
already given Sforza the quince (cotignd), which formed the
device of his native town. Now, at the King's suggestion, the
lion grasped the quince in his left paw, while with his right
he challenged all those who should venture to wrest the
trophy from his grasp. The device was crowned by the Sforza
helmet, consisting of a winged dragon with a man's head In
1409 a diamond ring was added by the Marquis of Este to
commemorate Sforza' s triumph over Ottobuono Terzo, the
tyrant of Parma."{

A history of Milan under the Sforza by Cecilia M. Ady 1907

I vaguely recall that Ercole d'Este added or changed the type of flower ??

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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SteveM wrote: I vaguely recall that Ercole d'Este added or changed the type of flower ??
Nicolò III d'Este nel 1401 cedette in feudo a Uguccione de' Contrari le terre e la Rocca di Vignola; è interessante notare come il suo emblema fosse proprio un anello con diamante avvinghiato da una zinnia. In quel caso si trattava di un anello episcopale che stava a significare il legame di Ferrara con lo Stato Pontificio: venne concesso a Nicolò da papa Martino V quando lo nominò gonfaloniere di Santa Romana Chiesa, carica ereditata poi da Ercole I che assunse anche l'impresa di Nicolò sostituendo alla zinnia due foglie e un garofano.

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http://www.engramma.it/engramma_v4/rivi ... rzo04.html

(From a previous post by Marco)

According to the above Ercole I changed the flower from a daisy to a carnation and added two leaves -

The original was "was an episcopal ring that signified the bond of Ferrara with the Papal States and was granted to Nicholas by Pope Martin V when he was named the standard-bearer (gonfaloniere) of the Holy Roman Church, a position then inherited by Ercole I" who took Niccolo's ring but "replacing the daisy with two leaves and a carnation."

SteveM

*zinnia? A modern term related to a genus of plants native to the America's? So seems misapplied here, if daisy, then margherita would be more usual term?
Last edited by SteveM on 10 Feb 2017, 00:19, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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I'd like to admit a major fault in my 'tentative timeline' above as Piero de Medici obviously had it on the 1449 birthtray of Lorenzo and thus before the fall of Milan to Sforza. When did Piero start using it? In 1448 they were embroiled in the war with Aragon/Naples (lead on Florence's behlaf by Malatesta, celebrated in Basinio's Hesperia epic) due to alliance with Sforza, so then?
Steve wrote:
In 1409 a diamond ring was added by the Marquis of Este to commemorate Sforza' s triumph over Ottobuono Terzo, the tyrant of Parma.
So do we have two ring devices with two completely separate origins: The single-ring-with-flower from the d'Este (flowers replaced with feathers by Piero) and the three-rings (no flower) from Cremona? Oddly both would date back to c. 1410.

The year of 1448 does seem to be near Piero's earliest use - on the birthtray noted above in 1449 (commissioned in 1448 as Lorenzo was born Jan.1?) and on the tabernacle in San Miniato dated to 1448, showing Piero's ring motif in della Robbia glazed terracotta on the lintels:
Image

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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Consensus on this point?


Phaeded wrote :

{skipped] "as Piero de Medici obviously had it on the 1449 birthtray of Lorenzo and thus before the fall of Milan to Sforza. "
Steve wrote:


"The year of 1448 does seem to be near Piero's earliest use - on the birthtray noted above in 1449 (commissioned in 1448 as Lorenzo was born Jan.1?) and on the tabernacle in San Miniato dated to 1448, showing Piero's ring motif in della Robbia glazed terracotta on the lintels:"
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http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

Re: Pseudo Charles VI Tarot : Exhibit on line Bnf

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This webpage ...
http://www.xenophon-mil.org/milhist/ren ... /deste.htm
One of the next men of note in the family was Nicolo III, signor of Ferrara from 1402, who died in 1441. He also controlled Modena, Parma and Reggio and was captain general of the papal armies. The family held Ferrara in fief from the Pope, and they provided many strong military champions for the papal armies. Niccolo made Ferrara a strategic key point more powerful than its small size would indicate. Several of Niccolo's illegitimate as well as legitimate sons followed him in succession, Ercole being the first of the legitimate ones. Ercole d'Este, nicknamed "North Wind" and "The Diamond" for his icy personality, who came to the throne in 1471 and died in 1505, married Leonora of Aragon in 1473. She was the daughter of King Ferrante of Naples, thus connecting the d'Este's with a most powerful ruler indeed.
... claims, that Ercole d'Este had the nicknames "North Wind" and "The Diamond" for his " icy personality".

Never read before of these nick names. Anybody else?

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The note wandered also to English wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ercole_I_ ... of_Ferrara
Huck
http://trionfi.com