Re: The Fool

61
Here is my take on the Visconti Fool.

He would be called a Turkey.
Turkey is the American version of a Guinea fowl.

The name for a Italian Guinea fowl is Faraona
The pun on this would be that the name of a King is Faraone from the Egyptian Pharaoh where the Guinea fowl came from.

Guinea fowl were introduced to Italy from Egypt, and in the Marche were a mark of distinction, enjoyed only by the aristocrats and wealthy farmers, who would serve them at wedding banquets. In short, they were for special occasions.
So for this deck we have the King of Fools at the wedding.
Not goitre- a crop to accentuate the pun; plus the black and white feathers in his hair- a Farabutto -a ruffian (a further pun)

~Lorredan
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: The Fool

62
I dunno Lorredan my friend; this sounds good and I like the pun. When I look at images of guinea fowl I don't see anything like a prominent crop--just the opposite; they seem to have slender necks.

Re: The Fool

63
Hi Debra! :ymhug:

For your information:

The esophagus is large in diameter, particularly in birds that swallow large meals. Swallowing is accomplished by esophageal peristalsis, and in most birds appears to be aided by extension of the neck. Most but not all birds have a crop,(sparrow types do not i.e) which varies from a simple expansion of the esophagus to one or two esophageal pouches. Food being swallowed is diverted in to the crop depending on the state of contraction of the stomach, then later propelled into the stomach by waves of peristalsis in the crop.

Turkeys and Guinea fowls have an additional storage chamber (a sac like swelling of the esophagus) called the crop.
In the Guinea fowl the crop is low down on the neck hidden by the puffy feathers of the chest. You need to see a photo after they have gobbled down the wedding cake :(|)
The Universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Re: The Fool

67
I think it's funny that illuminations and woodcuts like these interpret the "fool" of that psalm to be a dimwit or court jester. Really, I think the verse should be understood to mean "He is a fool who says in his heart "there is no God"".

But in Christian Bibles he is interpreted as a real fool. I wonder if that might not be because the costly illuminated Bibles were made for nobility, and the rich, who actually had fools. These illustrations then formed the tradition upon which illustrations like this woodcut, for a more popular audience, are based.
Image

Re: The Fool

70
translation of mid-sixteenth century anonymous poem Italian court of Ferrara:

It seems that the angel, star, sun, and moon,
With the world, and all who desire to live with it,
Hate the beauty that the skies gather
In the proud face of Madam Mamma.
Perhaps to be among these goddesses one -note: this section is fragmentary and difficult to make sense of
who strips them* of good, for love of fortitude, 'she is' in place of 'to be' would make some sense of it:
That is, not for death, or evil fortune but I leave it as a fragment, as it is in the original italian :
Who from her firm will cannot be turned: 'fortitude' from valor/valour/virtue
But surely everybody ought to believe
An evil spirit, beneath only the Bagatelle, :that is, a spirit under the control of the Bagatelle
Must possess this woman in order for her
to be able to say: "the good tarot shall be
mine, to play should I please, and I draw
this one, the Fool, who is the divine brain.”

*them - could refer to the other goddesses, or to those who 'desire to live with it' (the world (of her society?)).
original:

Par che l'angel, la stella, il sol, la luna
Col mondo, et chi con lui di viver brama,
Odiano la beltà, che il cielo aduna
Nel viso altier de la signora Mama.
Forsi per esser tra le Dee queste una
Che lor spogli del ben, che 'l valor ama,
O pur, per che ne morte, o ria fortuna
Dal fermo suo voler maj la richiama:
però deve creder fermamente ognuno
Ch'un spirito malvagio habbia costej
Supposta solamente al Bagattino
Per poter dire i buoni tarocchi mej
Saran, s'avien ch'io giuochi, et questi uno
Vo trare il Matto ch'è cervel divino.

Berti and Vitali 1987. "Le carte di corte. I tarocchi" p.107-108.
Last edited by SteveM on 17 Oct 2010, 06:26, edited 1 time in total.
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