Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

101
Nuit blanche!"

Added :

Isabelle of Lorraine, 1449 "According to P. Durrieux, writing in 1911 in Michelino de Besozzo et les relations entre l'art de italien et l'art francais, a series of 16 cards is described in a letter dated 1449 from Jacobo Antonio Marcello, a servant of King Rene of Anjou, to Isabelle da Lorraine, first wife of King Rene."
http://trionfi.com/jacopo-antonio-marce ... ovedittore

Well, Jacobo was much more than a servant ..
https://books.google.fr/books?id=RdWeII ... 47&f=false
Let's say an admirer of King René.
About gifts : " a stream of orned manuscripts treasures during at least a decade"
https://books.google.fr/books?id=RdWeII ... ne&f=false
He will offer the beautiful Strabon manuscript in 1459
Traduit du grec ancien en latin par Guarino de Vérone sur commande du général vénitien Jacopo Antonio Marcello, ce texte de Strabon a été offert à René d'Anjou, comme cadeau diplomatique le 13 septembre 1459. Il fait partie d'un ensemble de livres envoyés par le militaire italien au prince français, tous deux bibliophiles et passionnés de culture antique.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_situ_orbis_d%27Albi


https://books.google.fr/books?id=RdWeII ... ne&f=false

Oren Margolis in The Politics of Culture in Quattrocento Europe: René of Anjou in Italy
pp 110 114 writes, but with some fancies I believe, this story :

"The idea of the gift {to Isabelle de Lorraine] would have come from Scipine Carafa
who stopped at the Venetian Sforza camp outside Milan on his return from Charles VII 's court.
Marcello, Sforza and Giovanni, the core of the Croissant in Italy, were all three together at this time. Carafa came across a deck of cards during his visit to the camp and told Marcello that this sort of gift was perfect for René's wife; Not satisfied with the deck however, Marcello somehow managed to obtain the Visconti xards from inside the city (Milan). He also have the treatise on "tarot" (sic) by Marziano da Tortona that accompagnied them transcribed by Michele Salvatico, a proeminent Venice based scribe, and, on 12 november 1449, dispathched these to Provence (sic). He sent them by means of the man who happened to be his house guest : non other than King René right hand man, Giovanni Cossa.
This combination of prearranged gify with the intentionnal explotation of valuable network channels was a practice that Marcello will soon make all his own".
https://books.google.fr/books?id=GejnCw ... ds&f=false


About Jacobo Antonio Marcello's letter to Isabelle de Lorraine, from Venice to SAUMUR 1449 :

"in November 1449, from Monselice, his villa in the Veneto, to Saumur, where Isabelle resided, in the confidence of Giovanni Cossa, diplomat and military attache in René of Anjou’s service"
About COSSA born 1400 in Ischia : hr'll be one of the powerful person of the Angevins and will be at the side of King René, who will make him Seigneur de Grimaud,Sénéchal de Provence (1444) until his death in 1476.
https://books.google.fr/books?id=YEASDA ... sa&f=false
https://books.google.fr/books?id=qjv-hJ ... sa&f=false
In fact, he's at Isabelle de Lorraine side since before 1435, while René is still emprionned in Burgundy.
https://books.google.fr/books?id=RdWeII ... ne&f=false
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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This info is interesting ....
BOUGEAREL Alain wrote: Oren Margolis in The Politics of Culture in Quattrocento Europe: René of Anjou in Italy
pp 110 114 writes, but with some fancies I believe, this story :

"The idea of the gift {to Isabelle de Lorraine] would have come from Scipine Carafa
who stopped at the Venetian Sforza camp outside Milan on his return from Charles VII 's court.
Marcello, Sforza and Giovanni, the core of the Croissant in Italy, were all three together at this time. Carafa came across a deck of cards during his visit to the camp and told Marcello that this sort of gift was perfect for René's wife; Not satisfied with the deck however, Marcello somehow managed to obtain the Visconti xards from inside the city (Milan). He also have the treatise on "tarot" (sic) by Marziano da Tortona that accompagnied them transcribed by Michele Salvatico, a proeminent Venice based scribe, and, on 12 november 1449, dispathched these to Provence (sic). He sent them by means of the man who happened to be his house guest : non other than King René right hand man, Giovanni Cossa.
This combination of prearranged gify with the intentionnal explotation of valuable network channels was a practice that Marcello will soon make all his own".
https://books.google.fr/books?id=GejnCw ... ds&f=false
"transcribed by Michele Salvatico, a proeminent Venice based scribe" ... this is new to us, I think.
I suspected earlier, that the text is not the original text of Martiano da Tortona, but we haven't had info about a specific scribe.
The Politics of Culture in Quattrocento Europe: René of Anjou in Italy
Oren Margolis
Oxford University Press, 2016 - 240 Seiten
... is a new book (2016).

Oren Margolis in person ...
http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/people/oren-margolis/
... a history teacher in Oxford, if I get this right.
The book seems to be his first larger publication.

Image


There are references, likely the last contains the information to the Venetian scribe. Also new is, that Cossa was present, when Scipio Caraffa was in the soldier camp.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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I am confused by the "dispatched these together to Provence". Depaulis said recently, in The Playing Card Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jan-March 2015), that if you read the letter carefully, you will see that the two decks were sent to Saumur, where Isabelle lived.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVCDdlLlSwA/ ... nter_7.jpg, which I translate:
A careful reading of the letter accompanying the careful calligraphy (8) teaches us how Marcello has arranged to convey missive, games and "instructions" in November 1449, from Monselice, his villa in the Veneto, to Saumur, where Isabelle resided, in the confidence of Giovanni Cossa, diplomat and military attache in René of Anjou’s service. These two decks and the booklet associated with them were therefore handed to Isabelle in early 1450.
(from viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1091&p=16774&hilit=Anjou#p16776)

Both scholars refer to the same text, BnF Mss. latin 8745A, but in addition Margolis cites an Italian source of 1994. Saumur is not in Provence. It is in Anjou. Who is right?

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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mikeh wrote: Both scholars refer to the same text, BnF Mss. latin 8745A, but in addition Margolis cites an Italian source of 1994. Saumur is not in Provence. It is in Anjou. Who is right?
"Those years of nearly unbroken peace from 1442 to 1453 presented, at last, an opportunity for the unfolding of the rituals of a princely household. Court was held at Rene's and Isabel's castles throughout Anjou and Provence, many of which had been newly restored and refurbished. Saumur on the Loire, cited in Rene's principal work as the very model of a fine castle, became the family's favorite residence."
http://kingrene.guice.org/renentro.html

Anyway, the important thing is, that we got the name of a scribe, and if it was transcribed, then it's possible, that the text of Martiano da Tortona was shortened - possibly considerable.

The scribe was a German, who in 1423 became a Venetian citizen.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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Huck wrote:
Dummett declares, that ""Vim vi" is a motto used by various Italian families, and he says: "but I've not been able to discover one for whom playing cards are likely to have been painted".
http://trionfi.com/0/c/50/
Looks more like vim vi to me than Kaplan's suggestion (amour) ; it was fairly commonly used as an inscription on swords (short for VIM VI REPELLERE LICET = it is lawfull to repel force by force, i.e., in defence).

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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"Michele Salvatico", the scribe of the Martiano da Tortona manuscript, is said to be a man from Germany, earlier possibly known as "Michael Waldner from Freising", later names are "Michael de Salvaticis" or similar. He arrived 1423 Venice and became a citizen. He was recognized by his style of handwriting. He had some closer contact to ...

Andrea Contrario
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/and ... ografico)/

Guarnerio d'Artegna
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarnerio_d'Artegna
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/gua ... ografico)/

Francesco Barbaro, an important man
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco ... olitician)

Francesco Barbaro had an interesting life. One episode sees him as a defender of Brescia in early 1439, Piccino attacking the city with a siege. Francesco Sforza finally released them from the danger.

Margaret K. King, who had written about Jacopo Antonio Marcello and hi son Valerio, translated a text of Barbaro, acmrs.org/publications/catalog/francesco-barbaro-wealth-wives-fifteenth-century-marriage-manual
... and she wrote "Venetian Humanism in an Age of Patrician Dominance", in which all 3 above mentioned persons are mentioned:
https://books.google.de/books?id=rb__AwAAQBAJ
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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Franco Pratesi has checked the source of the 1993 research (Littera antiqua e scritture alla greca. Notai e cancellieri copisti a Venezia nei primi decenni del Quattrocento by Barile, Elisabetta) to the scribe in Venice.

The entry to the text of Martiano da Tortona is very short (2 1/2 lines of text) and doesn't add anything new to us. The value of the work is in the identification of the scribe, who was discovered (mostly only) by his personal style of writing. As the same style appeared also in administration texts (Michele Salvatico was a notaio), he could be identified (as I conclude from my studies to this point).
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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Huck wrote:This info is interesting ....
BOUGEAREL Alain wrote: Oren Margolis in The Politics of Culture in Quattrocento Europe: René of Anjou in Italy
pp 110 114 writes, but with some fancies I believe, this story :

"The idea of the gift {to Isabelle de Lorraine] would have come from Scipine Carafa
who stopped at the Venetian Sforza camp outside Milan on his return from Charles VII 's court.
Marcello, Sforza and Giovanni, the core of the Croissant in Italy, were all three together at this time. Carafa came across a deck of cards during his visit to the camp and told Marcello that this sort of gift was perfect for René's wife; Not satisfied with the deck however, Marcello somehow managed to obtain the Visconti xards from inside the city (Milan). He also have the treatise on "tarot" (sic) by Marziano da Tortona that accompagnied them transcribed by Michele Salvatico, a proeminent Venice based scribe, and, on 12 november 1449, dispathched these to Provence (sic). He sent them by means of the man who happened to be his house guest : non other than King René right hand man, Giovanni Cossa.
This combination of prearranged gift with the intentionnal explotation of valuable network channels was a practice that Marcello will soon make all his own".
https://books.google.fr/books?id=GejnCw ... ds&f=false

And

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVCDdlLlSwA/ ... nter_7.jpg

Hi

Well the two scholars have a different version even though they agree on 1449 and isabelle de Lorraine.
The scribe is identified.
What isnow of interest for me now is that King René had most likely known about this gift - whereas the letter, the booklet and the two (different?)decks were given in Anjou (Saumur) or in Provence (Tarascon).
Cossa's presence seems also to me quite interesting;
In final, René had a proto tarot with 4 suits (10 pips and and couple King Queen) and a fift trump suits of 16 gods as soon as November 1449.

Comments?


PS
What if the Eagles were Gyrofalcones?
http://ducange.enc.sorbonne.fr/GYROFALCONES

NB
I see that Robert PLACE has edited one reconstructed deck of the ancestor of the "classical" tarot :
https://robertmplacetarot.com/the-tarot ... ano-tarot/
He announces soon a book in accompagnemebt written by Ross Caldwell.

"No cards exist from this deck and the originals were most likely hand painted and gilded like other Milanese 15th century decks created for royalty. I have redesigned the deck as if it became a standard deck that was later reproduced in woodcuts and hand colored. My images for the cards are based on Marziano’s descriptions as translated by Caldwell and on the woodcuts found in the 15th century Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, early printed cards, as well as other Renaissance sources. In the future, Caldwell will author a book to accompany the deck, which will be sold separately. "
In his desciption, PLACE writes :
"In the letter, Marcello described two decks that he was acquiring for the queen. Of the two decks, the older one was created between 1412 and 1425 for Filippo Maria Visconti (1392-1447), Duke of Milan from 1412 to 1447. This deck had trumps that consisted of sixteen classical gods, and did not follow the allegory that we now consider standard for a Tarot. The deck was designed by artist Michelino da Besozzo, working with a plan created by Marziano da Tortona, the Duke’s secretary, tutor, and astrologer. This is the oldest known deck to have trumps and, therefore, by my definition, is the oldest known Tarot.

The deck consisted of four suits, each with ten pips and a king and queen in the suit. The suit symbols were four different birds: eagles, phoenixes, turtledoves, and doves. According to Marziano, who wrote in great detail about the symbolism of the deck, each suit was intended to represent a life goal or desire, grouped in two contrasting pairs. As previously stated, the deck also contained 16 trumps composed of classical gods, which was not an unusual subject in Renaissance art. Besides forming a separate trump suit, four gods were assigned to each suit, with the gods representing appropriate qualities for each goal..."
http://www.sgdl-auteurs.org/alain-bouge ... Biographie

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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Gyrfalcon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrfalcon

Image


I don't think, that the eagles in the manuscript of Martiano da Tortona were gyrfalcons.

************

We know, that Cossa got the commission to transport the deck at 12th of November 1449 in Monselice ...

Image


Image


https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castello_di_Monselice
https://www.google.de/maps/place/Castel ... d11.752773

... and what happened then, we don't know. Thanks to the new info we know, that (likely) the Venetian/German scribe copied the text of Martiano da Tortona at least in parts. Considering the "1500 ducats", that are reported as the price of the deck-operation, it seems plausible, that Martiano da Tortona made more than that, what we know.

At least we have, that Marcello's letter and the copied text are found in the BnF later. I remember, that Ross attempted to find information about the way of the manuscripts.

Renee d'Anjou arranged then, that Sforza and Marcello became knights in his knight orders. Marcello got a function in Crema, which was Venetian place close to Milan. Nonetheless a war appeared with Sforza against Venice in the course of 1452 and Renee participated in the course of 1453.

Compare the series of battles in 1452/53 and January 1454
http://www.condottieridiventura.it/inde ... /2725-1450

Renee made not a good figure and left the place.

************

At a not clear date Marcello arranged a manuscript, which he send to Renee and his knight order ("Passio Mauritii et sociorum ejus (1453), se trouve à la Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal (n° 940)".

Image


Image


Further there is a list of the knights of the order with their heraldry:

http://www.heraldique-blasons-armoiries ... ssant.html

Heraldry of Marcello


Heraldry of Sforza

Cossa was also a knight in the order.

For the order:
https://books.google.de/books?id=qjv-hJ ... 22&f=false

*****************

The pictures of the Tarot deck don't follow the descriptions of Martiano da Tortona.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: John Shephard - Goldschmidt tarot

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btw ...

Image

... this seems to have been a picture in Marcello's gift to Renee d'Anjou

The order of the Croissant used the motto "Los en Croissant" (also Loz en Croissant), which I saw interpreted as "growing in Fame" or "croître dans la louange". It appears on the personal order heraldry, here for Jean Cossa.

Image


Image


The elephant presented Fame in the Petrarca interpretation, which became rather popular in the 1440s. Marcello knew that, of course, and likely also Renee d'Anjou.
Huck
http://trionfi.com