The Emperor
Posted: 12 Nov 2009, 22:00
A thread to discuss the iconography of The Emperor
Over 500 years of history in 78 cards
https://forum.tarothistory.com/
It is most unlikely that Ridevall ever wanted his verbal picture translated into an actual image, and indeed there is only one comparatively late attempt of such a translation (Fig 147) in a fifteenth-century German MS of remarkably poor artistic quality....
...A ram-headed figure surrounded by eagles would be just the kind of image that would impress itself on the memory and would enable the preacher to enumerate the qualities of Benevolence in the context of a lengthy sermon.
How strange, for Filippo to refuse to meet Sigismund and then put his likeness on a playing card (and perhaps also that of his wife, as I will discuss in connection with the Empress)! Tolfo indeed puts the design of the card, and the whole deck, or at least the trumps, at 1428. But the actual cards can't be that old, because of the apparent Sforza devices scattered throughout. The earliest occasion for such devices would have been his betrothal to Bianca Maria, in 1430. There is also the design of the coin images, which reflect Visconti's 1436 "rearing horse" ducat. But the coins could easily have been redone in that style. Similarly, the particular design on the Emperor card could have been established at any time after 1426, and then repeated without much change in a later deck.L' Imperatore può essere identificato con Sigismondo del Lussemburgo , che nel 1426 aveva confermato a Filippo Maria il titolo ducale conferito a Gian Galeazzo Visconti. L'imperatore sta ricevendo una corona da un personaggio in basso a destra identificabile quindi con lo stesso Filippo Maria, tanto più che sulla sua veste c'è il motto visconteo a bon droyt . Ma Sigismondo verrà incoronato imperatore solo nel 1433, anno in cui Filippo Maria si rifiuterà addirittura di incontrarlo a Milano per la tradizionale incoronazione a re d'Italia in S. Ambrogio
(The Emperor can be identified as Sigismund of Luxembourg, who in 1426 had confirmed to Filippo Maria the title of duke that had been conferred upon Gian Galeazzo Visconti. The emperor is receiving a crown from a character in the lower right then identified with the same Filippo Maria, especially since it has on its clothing Visconti's motto “a bon droyt.” But Sigismund is crowned emperor only in 1433, when Filippo Maria will refuse even to meet him in Milan for the traditional coronation as king of Italy in S. Ambrose.)
Jan Hus and a pope paid for the prize, that they followed trustfully an invitation of Sigismondo ... Filippo Maria, more carefully for himself than other Visconti before him, died successfully in his own bed and for his own reasons. That's a point, which one shouldn't overlook.How strange, for Filippo to refuse to meet Sigismund and then put his likeness on a playing card (and perhaps also that of his wife, as I will discuss in connection with the Empress)!
... .-) ... I would assume, that, if the emperor commanded "I change my eagle", for technical reasons it was impossible to change the earlier eagle everywhere, naturally especially in foreign countries. And likely one would find further use of the one-headed eagle also in Germany, likely connected to a detailed heraldic explanation, why this was possible. ... ... and here it is.In 1433, Huck tells us (viewtopic.php?f=11&t=365&hilit=double+eagle#p4572) the design of the Holy Roman Empire's eagle changed from a single eagle to a double eagle. I am not sure what his source is. Assuming he is right, what does that say about the date of the card's design?
Lol! Its funny. Filippo argued he had diarrhea. I think it was a way to "send to shit" (a very Italian expression) the emperor.Filippo in 1433 refused even to meet Sigismund when he came for the traditional crowning in S. Ambrose
[Pizzagalli].«Quando Sigismund arrivò a Milano, ad accoglierlo trovò un imbarazzato Niccolò Piccinino, latore di un messaggio ducale alquanto sconveniente: Filippo comunicava di essere affetto da diarrea e giustificava la sua assenza affermando di non voler turbare la solennità della cerimonia con spiacevoli incidenti provocati dalla sua indisposizione».
4. Filippo Maria hate Sigismundo (he dont send soldiers when he need). Bianca and Francesco hate Friedrich III... Well, maybe we can ask who is represented in Brera, CY and PMB?Molto si è discusso sulla presenza nei tarocchi di immagini di Pontefici con o senza barba, cercando di individuare quali personaggi reali fossero stati rappresentati nelle carte. Seppur tale opera appaia meritoria, la barba, lungi da essere intesa come un preciso riferimento realistico di un ritratto, deve essere interpretata come un aspetto di saggezza in quanto le persone sagge venivano sempre raffigurate con questo ornamento naturale dovuto all’età avanzata alla quale veniva attribuito tale dote intellettiva.
Decembrio.«Si diede invece ad accordare un’assoluta preferenza, al punto di giudicarla la più dignitosa, a una veste lunga fin sotto il ginocchio, dalle maniche chiuse, fornita su ambedue i fianchi di fodere dello stesso tessuto che permettevano di cavare la spada attraverso i tagli della veste, e chiusa sul dietro da una cintura».
Decembrio.«Amò circondarsi di giovinetti di bell’aspetto e che facessero spicco per la loro avvenenza. Per essi il palazzo non aveva segreti. Filippo Marial i voleva partecipi delle conversazioni familiari, dei colloqui riservati, dei suoi impegni, dei suoi svaghi, e perfino dei suoi spostamenti. Sempre loro, avvicendandosi in turni, gli stavano continuamente a fianco: sia a tavola, sia a letto, in qualsiasi altro posto dove Filippo Maria venisse a trovarsi, li erano con lui. A loro aveva affidato non solo la guardia, ma –cio che a nessun altro era concesso- anche la cura del suo corpo [...].
»Parecchi divennero famosi per acume e prudenza. Tra essi Raniero Vancalve, tedesco di nascita, giovinetto che di gran lunga s’imponeva e per nobiltà d’animo e per fisica, armoniosa festrezza. Tra i nostri, Andrea Biraghi, un po’ pi’u mite di temperamento, ma per propio per questo di molto superiore per compostezza spirituale; e Giovanni Antonio da Brescia all’apparire del quale, per lo straordinario favore e l’autorevolezza di cui godeva, non solo i familiari, ma perfino i senatori s’alzavano in piedi, soliti ormai rispettarlo e onorarlo come il sostituto del duca».
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/wi ... riage.htmlGiovanni di Ser Giovanni, Lo Scheggia (1406–1486), Frederick III and Leonora of Portugal in Rome, 1452, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts. This panel depicts events of 1452: Frederick III’s journey to Rome, marriage to Leonora of Portugal, and coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. We see the newly married couple kneeling in front of the basilica of St. Peter’s. At the right, Frederick knights his brother Albrecht on the bridge of St. Angelo. No strangers to “spin,” Renaissance viewers may have recalled that the same bridge had collapsed under the weight of pilgrims in 1450 and had just been rebuilt. Eventually Frederick and Albrecht would go to battle over Vienna. Despite such conflicts, the cassone panel presents an image of order and dignity, appropriate to the lofty occasion. The patron of this chest must have been a member of the political elite involved in hosting Frederick’s sojourn in Florence.