As far as Marziano impacting the Castle in Pavia, it looks like Rozzo has misread Donati, as the only clear evidence I see is a 1570 description of the castle and then Bembo's documented presence there, and therefore the PMB's influence, on the library in Pavia. I readily offer up caveats that I've just translated a few bits of a rather long article, while skimming the rest to try to get the gist of the article (can't copy/paste from JSTOR and I'm willing to transcribe only so much ;-). Keep in mind Donati's goal here is to explain the "Mantegna Tarocchi" and so the Pavia references are incidental to that. I do not see his proposed PMB court cards as prefiguring various "Tarocchi" figures at all. Donati ends with seeing a profound influence on the structure of the "Tarocchi" via Dante (particularly cards related to the Christianized Ptolemaic cosmos and liberal arts), in his
Convivio with a few references also to the
Comedia, but that is besides the point in regard to Marziano.
So here's the first key passage in regard to the ducal library in Pavia and the machine translation; after seeing a similarity in a stained glass window in Milan's Duomo with the "Tarocchi
Artixan" and then a document which places a certain artist named Varallo working on that from 1460 on (hence close to the "Tarocchi" date), Donati offers us some engravings from 1505, with no suggestion of Marziano but rather works that seem to match the "Tarocchi" (presumably Donati saw the 1505 printer, Gualla, as using an earlier scheme from the library):
Al document ed alle affinita stilistiche denunciate per affermare l’ambiente pavese dei nostril ‘Tarocchi’ e bene aggiungere una testimonianza grafica. E quella offerta dal ‘Papie sanctuarium’ di Jacopo Gualla stampato a Pavia il 10 novembre 1505. Si confronti la figura infantile del Papa con quella altrettanto infantile del Papa 10 e qualla del Re col Re 8 della Serie S che abbiamo gia detto appartene ad una ‘carta’ non pervenutaci. Questa coincidenza, insieme colla somma sborsata da Filippo Maria Visconti, ci fa pensare che per le figure miniate, il grande ciclo iconografico fosse creato per una decorazione assai piu importante. Abbiamo gia accennato ad una simile eventualita, ma or ail pensiero corre al Castello Visconteo di Pavia del quale furono famose la grandezza e la belezza. Dell’eleganza artistica d’ogni sala ci ha lasciato la descrizione il Breventano[4], il quale parlando della Biblioteca dice che i libri ‘trattavano di tutte le facolta letterali, si di leggi, come di theologia, filosofia, astrologia, medicina, musica, geometria, retorica, istorie et d’altre scientie.’ Queste parole, coincidenti con alcune figure dei nostril ‘Tarocchi’, si direbbero scritte avendo innanzi agli occhi le personificazioni di quelle scienze e fanno pensare che in quello stupendo salone tutti I rami dello scibile, l’ispirazione poetica delle Muse e degli Dei, le Virtu Cristiane, le Costellazioni ed I Pianeti che influenzano la vita umana in ogni sua forma, tutta l’eredita dell’antichita classica nei tempi moderni, insomma tutto lo spirit fosse rappresentato da figure allegoriche, probailmente nel soffito, e che per questa meravigliosa creazione, tradottasi anche in forme d’arte minore, Filippo Maria Visconti avesse sborsato la grossa somma. (122-24).
Translation:
To the document and to the stylistic affinities denounced to affirm the environment of Pavia of our "Tarot" to which we add a graphic testimony. And the one offered by the 'Papie sanctuarium' by Jacopo Gualla printed in Pavia on 10 November 1505. Compare the infantile figure of the Pope with the equally childish figure of the Pope 10 and the King with the King 8 of the S Series we have already said belong to a 'card' not received by us. This coincidence, together with the sum paid out by Filippo Maria Visconti, makes us think that for the illuminated figures, the great iconographic cycle was created for a much more important decoration. We have already mentioned a similar eventuality, but the thought goes to the Visconti Castle of Pavia, whose grandeur and beauty were famous. The description of the artistic elegance of each room has been given to us by Breventano [4], who, speaking of the Library, says that books' dealt with all literary faculties, including laws, theology, philosophy, astrology, medicine, music, geometry, rhetoric, histories and other sciences. These words, which coincide with some of our 'Tarot' figures, appear to be written with the personifications of those sciences in front of them and suggest that in that wonderful hall all the branches of knowledge are the poetic inspiration of the Muses and the Gods, the Christian Virtu, the Constellations and the Planets that influence human life in all its forms, all the legacy of classical antiquity in modern times, in short, all the spirit was represented by allegorical figures, probably in the ceiling, and that for this wonderful creation , which also resulted in minor art forms, Filippo Maria Visconti paid the large sum.
The key source for the description of the rooms - not quoted by Donati (perhaps I missed that somewhere) - is this footnote:
4. Stefano Breventano,
Istoria delle antichita, et delle cose notabili della citta di Pavia, Pavia, Bartoli, 1570. Il brano e riportato da Gerolamo d’Adda, Indagini storiche, artistiche e bibliografiche sula libreria visconteo-sforezesca del castello di Pavia, Milano, 1879, p. XIV-XVIII)
Without any specifics from Breventano its hard to see how Donati makes this leap to the notion that Breventano was describing a "Tarocchi" predecessor. A library is necessarily encyclopedic and so yes, all of the names of the series in the "Tarocchi" are covered by the subjects of the books held there, but that seems like the weakest argument one can make. Also the "large sum" seems to reference an earlier mentioning of the 1500 ducats to Marziano, yet Donati quickly moves onto to another artist...
A page later we have a link to Bonfacio Bembo, of all people:
Anche queste testimonianze iconografiche d’una grande serie pittorica, probabilmente esguita nel soffito a cassettoni della Biblioteca Viscontea di Pavia, nel quale le figure potevano esser disposte secondo un ordine preciso e ben meditato (A. Pianeti e Sfere. -B. Genii e Virtu. – C. Arti e Scienze. – D. Apollo e le Muse….-S. Gerarchie umane), sono accompagnate dai documenti. Indichiamone alcuni dei molti riguardanti la decorazione artistica del Castello pubblicati dal Maiocchi [2], scegliendo quelli che nominano Bonifacio Bembo al quale con ottimi argomenti sono attribuite le carte Carrara-Colleoni [PMB]: [dated documents, going from 1457 through 1482] (125)
Translation:
Also these iconographic testimonies of a great pictorial series, probably made in the coffered ceiling of the Visconti Library of Pavia, in which the figures could be arranged according to a precise and well thought out order (A. Planets and Spheres. -B. Genii and Virtu - C. Arts and Sciences - D. Apollo and the Muses ... - S. Human hierarchies), are accompanied by documents. Let us indicate some of the many related to the artistic decoration of the Castle published by Maiocchi [2], choosing those who name Bonifacio Bembo to whom Carrara-Colleoni cards [PMB] are attributed with excellent arguments: [here follows document dates, going from 1457 through 1482] (125)
This time the key source is footnote 2:
2. Rodolfo Maiocchi,
Codice diplomatico artistico di Pavia dall’anno 1330 all’anno 1550, Pavia, Bianchi, 1937, I.
It seems Donati is taking the description of the castle in Breventano (whom he merely summarizes initially and then seemingly refers to in detail with the A through S sub-cycles of subjects, some of which generally match the "tarocchi") and then links Bembo to these descriptions because of Maiocchi's documentation of Bembo having worked there; having previously linked some presumed Bembo-painted PMB cards to the "Tarocchi" (an argument which I found especially weak) he then ties the genesis of the "Tarocchi" to the art scheme in the Pavia library.
Naturally, given my proposal that the planets are present in the PMB (as "children of the planets"), I find the potential linking of Bembo to a
later fresco scheme, one area of which is dedicated to the planets in the Pavia library, of utmost interest, but I still do not see a Marziano connection. He is mentioned earlier, but beyond that Rozzo must have confused Marziano with the later Bembo reference, both being connected with cards (and Donati is vague about the later association of the "large sum" with anyone before moving on to Bembo).
At all events, there are two more works (the footnotes cited above) that apparently describe the artistic program of the castle at Pavia that are worth investigating.
Phaeded