mikeh wrote: 03 Apr 2023, 09:56 It might be possible to locate the appropriati's origin by the terms used, which sometimes vary from the standard. Instead of the usual "Sagitta" or "Saetta" for the Tower card, we see "Sagieta." In the stanza itself the spelling is "Saetta," typical for Bologna and Florence but not Ferrara. We have "Demonio" as the title of the Devil stanza, but "Diavolo" in the stanza itself; neither is helpful in locating the place. The "Vecchio" (Old Man) is "Tempo" in the stanza, a practice seen in Bologna but also elsewhere. "Rota" is "Ruota" in the stanza, neither of much help. Instead of "Fortezza" we have "Forza," as is usual in Bologna for that subject. The other virtues are "Iusticia" and "Temperanza," not the usual names in Bologna, but they do occur. Finally, "Bagattin" is typical of Bologna but is also seen in Ferrara. In the stanza itself, the poet has the verb "bagatelar," suggesting a familiarity with the Ferrarese "bagatella."

From a brief google books search I found the abbreviated form of "Mōdo" quite ubiquitous, but "ch’il Mōdo" gave only 5 hits, most of which with authors with some connections to the Ferrarese court of the d'Este. A search on the spelling "spenachiar" gave me only two hits, one a 17th-century Canzoni by a Venetian author, the other in the poem I translated in the previous post* by Paride da Ceresara from the court of Isabella d'Este, but one can hardly make a judgment of what may have been a simple spelling error rather than a regional variation.

*To which I have edited to add translations for the related verses on the World, Angel, Lightning, Traitor, Temperance, Love & the Juggler.

mikeh wrote: 03 Apr 2023, 09:56
Another difficulty is that the order of the virtues in this new appropriati is that invariably reported in Florence, with Justice high, Fortitude middle, and Temperance low, whereas that of Bologna has Fortitude high and Justice middle. We might recall here that the Rosenwald has Fortitude and Justice with precisely the same number, although the order on the page suggests Fortitude high.

The virtues are together in the sequence Temperance, Fortitude & Justice in the Sicilian Tarot [although they vary in position in relation to Love and The Chariot in this case], and the 14th trump in that is "The Ship": an interesting coincidence with the reference to the Ship in the 14th Trump Demonio:

Trump 14 DEMONIO

SECOND PART:

Contra di voi, lo ſpirito malegno,
Non ſumerſſe la Naue, eſſendo importo
Però l’honor’, non e da voi diuiſo,
Che a longo andar haurete il paradiſo.

[lit., trans]
Against you, the evil spirit,
Submerges not the Ship, an amount
Since of honour, it is not by you divided,
That in the long go[ing] you will have paradise.

In the case of our poet of course, the unsunken Ship is simply a metaphor for the Triumph of Virtue over Vice, more specifically, the unflooded vessel is a euphemistic idiom for Chastity [and its Triumph over Eros] : the evil-minded fail to 'flood her vessel', for she has set her course to heaven and is not willing to 'share her honour' with anyone, or at least, this portion of it.

DEMONIO

The devil, with art and wit,
Has not the strength to do you an outrage or wrong,
But you break his designs with deeds,
By living honestly, speaking well and knowingly,
Against you, no evil spirit
Can flood the Vessel, as this portion
Of honour, you do not share,
So that in the long run, you will get to paradise.

mikeh wrote: 14 Jun 2014, 22:18 The events described, according to Pratesi, are 1683, but it must be before 1725 because "papa" is there instead of a Moor. The event in question is late 17th century; the order is Bolognese.
...

While it's very likely late 17th century, the mention of 'papa' is not necessarily a firm basis on which to declare 'it must' be before 1725.

For example, while the basic list of Tarocchini trumps appropriated for Ladies of Bologna circa mid-18th century lists 'mori' as reported by Pratesi here:

http://trionfi.com/pratesi-cartomancer

1. Angelo - Contessa Ippolita Borgonzi Segni di Parma
2. Mondo - Contessa Paola Fontana Salvioli
3. Sole - Contessa Anna Ratta de Bianchi
4. Luna - Contessa Vittoria Bentivogli Ranuzzi
5. Stella - Marchesa Bradamante Bevilacqua Bovio di Ferrara
6. Saetta - Marchesa Laura Spada Buoi
7. Diavolo - Contessa Lavinia Conti Baldi
8. Morte - Contessa Alessandra Zambeccari Bolognetti
9. Traditore - Contessa Silvia Barbazzi Ercolani
10. Vecchio - Contessa Laura Todeschi Todeschi
11. Roda - Contessa Maria Borgonzi Ranuzzi di Parma
12. Forza - Anna Orsi Boschi
13. Giusta - Contessa Maria Pepoli Malvezzi
14. Tempra - Marchesa Laura Pepoli Malvezzi
15. Carro - Marchesa Margaritta Boschi Bolognini
16. Amore - Maria Gentile Penelope Ratta
17. (no name) - Francesca Maria Grati Bugami
18. Quattro - Contessa Maria Camilla Grati Scarselli
19. Mori - Contessa Donna Catterina Caetani Grati
20. (no name) - Contessa Anna Boschetti Grati
21. Bagattino - Marchesa Isabella Zambeccari Pepoli
22. Matto - Contessa Anna Toccoli Castelli di Parma

The explanation as to why they are appropriate that is given on the last page of the four pages refers to them as the four Papi :

Angel : Countess Ippolita Borgonzi Segni of Parma
Because she is very beautiful

Mondo : Countess Paola Fontana Salvioli
Because she is small and extraordinarily fat

Sole : Anna Ratta de Bianchi
Because she is beautiful

Luna : Countess Vittoria Bentivoglj Ranuzzi
Because she is comely

Stella : Marchesa Bradamante Bevilacqua Bovio of Ferrara
Because she has a pleasant face

Saetta : Marchesa Laura Spada Buoi
Because she combines the ugliness of her skinny body with the squalidness of her dress

Diavolo : Countess Lavinia Conti Baldi
Because she is of frightening deformity and ugliness

Morte : Countess Alessandra Zambeccari Bolognetti
Because she appears ugly and of such color that one can say of her
what that ancient Latin poet said, a pale statue

Traitor : Countess Silvia Barbazzi Ercolani
Because she has a double and feigned heart

Vecchio : Countess Laura Todeschi Todeschi
Because although young she looks like an old lady, and because
she appears to have been married for a long time

Roda : Countess Maria Borgonzi Ranuzzi of Parma
Because her brain is distorted, and out of particular use

Strength : Anna Orsi Boschi
Because she is a tall, robust woman

Just : Countess Maria Pepoli Malvezzi
Because she shows wisdom, and is endowed with excellent and holy customs

Temprance : Marchesa Laura Pepoli Malvezzi
Because she shows wisdom, and is endowed with excellent and holy customs

Chariot : Marchesa Margaritta Boschi Bolognini
Because in her walking she resembles a cart

Amore : Maria Gentile Penelope Ratta
Because she is intent on procuring a good number of adorers

Four Papi :

Francesca Maria Grati Bugami
Countess Maria Camilla Grati Scarsella
Countess Cattarina Caetani Grati
Countess Anna Bischetti Grati

Because they are all full of naivety

Bagattino : Marchesa Isabella Zambeccari Pepoli
Because she is surrounded by amourous boys

Matto : Countess Anna Toccoli Castelli di Parma
Because she is not very wise

Google translated from the source transcribed at http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=869& ... 1x3ZRenaxg

A popular product for weddings in Bologna in the 18th century were printed booklets of poems written for the occasion, frequently using the formula "Rime per le felicissime Nozze de’ nobilissim... [insert spouses details]". I found a few I think relating to the Ladies on our list, for example this one on google books:

Rime per le felicissime nozze de'nobilissimi signori conte Marcantonio Hercolani e marchesa Silvia Barbazza, 1727

I suspect none other than our 'Traitor' Silvia Barbazzi Ercolini for her 'double and feigned heart'.

https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=lp ... &q&f=false
There is also a :

Rime for the marriage of Anna Orsi to Valerio Boschi, 1738. Our Strength card : Anna Orsi Boschi [Because she is a tall, robust woman]

"RIME for the very happy wedding of the nobleman Mr. Marquis Teodoro De’Buoi with the noblewoman Mrs. Marquise Laura Maria Spada."

Laura Maria Spada (1708n- ?) married Teodoro Santi de Buoi in 1744. Laura Spada Buoi is our "Saetta" among our Noble Ladies of Bologna, who "combines the ugliness of her skinny body with the squalidness of her dress."

Other ladies from our list I have been able to identify from a brief perusal of some online genealogy sites and a couple of textual and archival sources:

Laura Pepoli (1712 - 1758) married Sigismondo III Maria Malvezzi Lupari, April 23, 1731
Anna Maria Caterina Pepoli married Giuseppe Ercole Malvezzi, Conte della Selva (1708-1781) in 1726.
Ippolita Bergonzi of Parma married Count Girolamo Segni of Bologna in 1737.
Camilla Grati Scarselli - daughter of Senator Giuseppe Ippolito Grati, wife of Count Mario di Alessandro Scarselli, married 1738.
Maria Bergonzi 1694- 1783, daughter of Sigismondo Allesandro Bergonzi, Marchese di Cella Costamezzana. Wife of Marc Antonio Ranuzzi, ~Conte dei Bagni della Porrettta, m.1719
Vittoria Bentivoglio 1711-1778, daughter of Lorenzo Bentivoglio, m Angelo Maria Ferdinando Ranuzzi [1701-1759] July 3, 1726.
Bradamante Bevilacqua of Ferrari (1723, ?) married Marchese Paolo Silvestri Bovi, Senator of Bologna in 1742

With some further research we could probably nail the date for this Tarocchino Appropriati a little closer, but what I have found so far is sufficient to verify it mid-18th century, between 1744 [Marriage of Laura Spada to Teodoro di Buoi] & 1758 [Death of Laura Pepoli].

I haven't [as yet] found anything on our Bagatino, Isabella Zambeccari Pepoli.But for another Zambeccari nee Pepoli I did come across a Rime "For the highly applauded wedding of the most noble lords the Marquis Costanzo Zambeccari and the lady Countess Beatrice Pepoli." The poems are by Lorenzo Fusco and it also contains engravings drawn by Sebastiano Gamma, whom some of us may also know from his drawing for an engraving of Ladies and Gentlemen playing cards:
https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api ... main-image

Here everything is grace, everything is beauty.
Happy cards to be held so,
By such soft hands handled.

But between so much joy, and such a game,
Beware, oh lovely girls so fair,
That you torment not the fire of Love.

SteveM wrote: 28 Oct 2024, 19:57

https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api ... main-image

Here everything is grace, everything is beauty.
Happy cards to be held so,
By such soft hands handled.

But between so much joy, and such a game,
Beware, oh lovely girls so fair,
That you torment not the fire of Love.

The original painting by Nicolo dell' Abate, from which Gamma made his drawing, is in the concert hall of the Poggi Palace, which from 1745 was connected to the residence of the Malvezzi family adjacent to it, two members of which are named among the noble ladies of Bologna in our Tarocchi Appropriati. In order to expand the Malvezzi Palace was puirchased in 1827 to house its administrative offices.

Niccolò dell'Abate, Tarot Card Players, fresco, 1548–50,. Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna.

The Palazzo Poggi fresco by Niccolò dell'Abate looks like another case of the same misnaming phenomenon that happened with the Casa Borromeo fresco in Milan: an image that was never intended to be interpreted as people playing tarot was later called something like The Tarot Players—I giocatori di tarocchi (Borromeo), Il gioco dei tarocchi (Poggi)—because by that time, the locals were no longer familiar with anything like the kind of cards depicted except in tarot decks.

In the case of the Casa Borromeo fresco, the mistaken title could theoretically have been applied relatively early, because the Milanese probably stopped using Italian-suited cards for anything other than games of tarocchi some time in the sixteenth century.

In the case of the Poggi fresco, on the other hand, I am inclined to think that the inaccurate name must be relatively recent. This is mainly because tarocchi is not the normal name for the traditional Bolognese tarot game, and as far as I am aware it never has been: in the area of Bologna and Ferrara, the game seems to have been called tarocco earlier and then tarocchino.
This suggests that the fresco was given the name only in recent decades, after the considerable decline of the Bolognese tarot game, which is now quite rare, far less widely played than it was in previous centuries.

Bologna is also home to another traditional deck of Italian-suited cards, the "Bolognese Primiera" deck. That deck is apparently used even more rarely now than the Bolognese tarot deck, and may in fact be "extinct in the wild", which is to say, it may not actually be used for play anymore, and all sales of it might now be to card collectors only. If it survives in active use at all, it must be in small communities in the region around Bologna, as it was reported to have died out in the city itself by the 1980s (see Dummett, "The Portuguese Suit-System in the Central Mediterranean," The Playing-Card vol. 17 no. 4, 1989, p. 114).
However, it does not help us to date the name of the fresco anyway, because the Bolognese Primiera deck—like nearly all the traditional Italian decks of cards that are still made—does not contain Eights, and the fresco shows a woman holding an Eight of Coins. So familiarity with the Primiera deck would not have stopped people from mistakenly interpreting the fresco as a depiction of a tarot game.

I agree there is insufficient reference to describe it a tarot players, a more general 'card players' would be more accurate. There is sufficient info to see that it is not tarocchino nor primiere. It could be a 52 card deck like the F Manchesini of Roveredo. The naming of the engraving & painting I agree is modern. My only reason for including the engraving is as I wrote, it depicts card players and its production involved someone who mixed within at least one of the family circles of which our appropriati ladies belonged, but you are right that such anachronistic naming conventions should be pointed out so that errors do not persist or cause confusion.

Nathaniel wrote: 31 Oct 2024, 11:52
In the case of the Poggi fresco, on the other hand, I am inclined to think that the inaccurate name must be relatively recent. This is mainly because tarocchi is not the normal name for the traditional Bolognese tarot game, and as far as I am aware it never has been: in the area of Bologna and Ferrara, the game seems to have been called tarocco earlier and then tarocchino.

Canon Luigi Montieri's game, a version of tarocchino with geographic and heraldic subjects,the which led to the scandal that brought us Moors in place of Papi - called it Tarocchi.

L'Utile col Diletto o sia Geografia intrecciata nel Giuoco de Tarocchi, con le Insegne degl'Illustrissimi ed Ecclelsi Signori Gonfalonieri, ed Anziani di Bologna dal 1670, sino al 1725."

Also we have TAROCCHI being used, even of Mitelli's tarocchino, from the catalogue of the Cospiano Museum in Bologna, by Lorenzo Legate, printed in Bologna in 1677:

12 All these Card Games were derived from the Tarocchi invented, as is said, in Bologna, and, more than anywhere else, practiced when the Bentivogli exercised the authority of Prince there. The ones found here are Witness to this.

13 TAROCCHI CARDS, used in Bologna 170 and more years ago, as demonstrated by the reverse of each, on which is printed the Bentivogli Coat of Arms, as they used it at the time that they exercised the authority of Prince there, that is with the red Saw, and nothing else on the Shield, and a Panther above the Crest, with the motto FIDES, ET AMOR. These are much larger than the ordinary ones, and similarly painted in various colors. The game is one more of ingenuity than of chance, but the Sacred Figures do not make good consonance with it, such as that of the Pope, which should not, it seems to me, be placed among things of play, even the heterodox are scandalized by such abuse.

14 GAME of TAROCCHI CARDS of new, and capricious invention, & engraved in copper by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Bolognese painter, and son of the famous Agostino, and no less than his father ingenious, esteemed in inventions, and defenses, as demonstrated by other works among the Arts of Bologna designed by him, & engraved in copper: these have been reprinted in Rome by Cole d'Annibale Carracci. By his hand is the Perspective of the Museum, proposed at the beginning of this Volume. These papers were donated to the Museum by Father Giovanni Mitelli of the Clerics Regular Ministers of the Sick, brother of the Author, a most officious Religious, who also granted me a copy bound in a book, which I present as a singular thing of this kind. Some of them agree with the previous ones in the fact of being marked with the Bentivogli Coat of Arms, not however in the reference, but which is much more noteworthy in the right effecting the Game dedicated to Mr. Co. Filippo of the former Co. Prospero Bentivogli.

SteveM wrote: 01 Nov 2024, 06:18
Also we have TAROCCHI being used, even of Mitelli's tarocchino, from the catalogue of the Cospiano Museum in Bologna, by Lorenzo Legate, printed in Bologna in 1677:

12 All these Card Games were derived from the Tarocchi invented, as is said, in Bologna, and, more than anywhere else, practiced when the Bentivogli exercised the authority of Prince there. The ones found here are Witness to this.

13 TAROCCHI CARDS, used in Bologna 170 and more years ago, as demonstrated by the reverse of each, on which is printed the Bentivogli Coat of Arms, as they used it at the time that they exercised the authority of Prince there, that is with the red Saw, and nothing else on the Shield, and a Panther above the Crest, with the motto FIDES, ET AMOR. These are much larger than the ordinary ones, and similarly painted in various colors. The game is one more of ingenuity than of chance, but the Sacred Figures do not make good consonance with it, such as that of the Pope, which should not, it seems to me, be placed among things of play, even the heterodox are scandalized by such abuse.

What happened to this deck!?

FIDES ET AMOR was the motto of Giovanni Benivoglie - I've been looking for an example but the closest I can find at the moment is the stemma of the Trotti Bentivoglio branch. Antonio Trotti became captain of justice in Bologna and obtained from Giovanni II Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna, permission to use his surname and his arms annexed to those of the Trotti family on 25 December 1478, thus giving rise to the Trotti Bentivoglio dynasty.

An example of the Bentivoglio saw with Giovanni's motto FIDE ET AMOR quartered with the arms of the Trotti :

SteveM wrote: 01 Nov 2024, 09:25
An example of the Bentivoglio saw with Giovanni's motto FIDE ET AMOR quartered with the arms of the Trotti :

No relationship to Ugo Trotti [The Jurist and author of De multiplici ludo] by any chance? I think Antonio Trotti's branch came from Milan, not Ferrara.

A bit of quick googling found a couple of examples of the basic Bentivoglio arms (the "red saw" with the other diagonal half in yellow) with a panther (or at least something that looks like it could be a panther) atop the crest:
https://bbcc.regione.emilia-romagna.it/ ... 59&force=1
https://www.antiquarius.it/it/scuola-it ... oglio.html

In neither case is the motto FIDES ET AMOR, but it is not difficult to imagine a variant with that motto instead of the ones used on these examples.
The first one is on a box dated to 1464–1499.