Ross,
First all thank you for posting the Latin - skimming it for key themes I'm interested in, I noticed that of the list of ancestors, Astatius is mentioned as living in the time of Numa (so another reason to single out Numa by Marziano, given this reference in Barizza).

More dear to my interests, I noticed Prudence is separated from the other cardinal virtues and placed with Piety and Clemency (reflected in the illumination; more on that below). Prudence allows the eye to discern the true from the transitory (Eius namque Prudentia patet in hoc, quia scivit discernere bona, vera, et solida a labentibus et caducis, quamquam haec delectent et perstringant oculos intuentiuni). This is also placed in the context of Julius Caesar's patience (he was the direct decedent of Venus - Augustus, a great nephew, merely being adopted by Julius), with that paragraph ending with one should despise vain-glory via one's Prudence, followed by a quote of Psalm's 117; that psalm begins with "Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples" which is keeping with the mentioning of Gian Galeazzo's clemency in dealing with his fractious duchy. Prudence's mirror is usually angled upwards to behold God (i.e., one cannot look directly at Him), hence Piety, and Prudence is always linked to ruling, from Aquinas through all of the Trecento political theorists, hence Clemency.

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 02 Apr 2020, 15:34 Detail of the 12 Virtues around which Pietro Castelletto based his sermon. He note that the number was inspired by Apocalypse XII (verse 1), "and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (in capite eius corona stellarum duodecim, where eius can be "his" as well as "hers," which allows the image to apply to Gian Galeazzo as well).

I wrote up a summary of the virtues and the names in the genealogy after I hand-copied from the manuscript in 2003.
http://trionfi.com/visconti-genealogy
...
The order he gives them in are (bottom front) Faith, Hope, Charity.
Back left (Castelletto says "right", as if speaking from the point of view of the image), Justice, Fortitude, Temperance.
Front right (Castelletto "left") Prudence, Piety, Clemency.
Back right, Magnificence, Intelligence, Humility.

You might also recall Bnf Lat. 757, f109v in this light, with Giangaleazzo praying to the Madonna and child of the Apocalypse (and I would also argue the PMB Sun radiate mask references this "Christological Sol"):

As for Prudence's placement in the Eulogy illumination, you'll note that Prudence is given pride of place right behind Mary and that her mirror is not tilted upwards but at Christ, since he is among them. At this point I'd also note the precedence for this position is in the similar arrangement of virtues (not just the canonical 7) around Robert, the Angevin ruler of Naples, in his Anjou Bible. She holds one of the four baldachin staffs along with the other cardinals, but looks directly at the orb on Robert's lap, who in turn looks in her direction. The orb seems to have been replaced by the haloed Christ in the Visconti illumination, but clearly prudence is in a privileged position in both illuminations.

Often the orb, sometimes shown as the T-O orb, is capped with the cross, Christ's ultimate dominion over the continents (and subdivisions) of the earth. What prudence represents for Robert of Anjou is the direction of the heavenly grace at his dominion; oddly in the Visconti one, Prudence's mirror is reflecting Christ's grace (the word "radio" or ray is used repeatedly in Barizza's eulogy).


I'll try to be brief here (and this is related to my long-winded yet not completed reply to Mike about the "World" as prudence), but the essence of this is Prudence sees the past, present and future - time - and she does that by observing the heavens, which all behave a in the perfect motion of the circle (basic Aristotelian astronomy here). The convex mirror (ignorantly misrepresented over time as a mirror directly peered into, confusing her with a vanity motif) reflects the heavenly brilliance, the unveiling of God's plan. Prudence in turn does not hold a compass because she is a mason, but because the circular movement of the heavens should be reflected in the properly ordered dominion on earth , mirroring the heavens. That is what happening with the Ferrara variation of Giotto's Prudence shown in the Dal Sale palazzo (aka Minerbi) - the Dal Sale were advisers to the d'Este and wanted to depict the virtue in terms of their role in the steersman-ship of the state; this prudence shows Ferrara and its contado inscribed within a perfect circle, harmonizing with the heavens (why tarot's "Worlds" are set in tondos). In a similar vein, another Ferrarese diplomat courtier and adviser to the d'Este had a medal struck in the middle of the 15th century whose reverse focuses on Prudence's convex mirror angled towards the heavens (Sperandio, Manfredi medal, 1463, Prudence Seated on Two Hounds Holding Manfredi Shield, Rx, NGA)


All of this goes back to the Beatific Vision controversy of the early Trecento, a time when we find Prudence more explicitly tied to the circular motions of the heavens in the form of an armillary sphere, versus the compass (the meaning of either attribute is complimentary - the compass simply became more fashionable in the 15th century, and did not allow confusion with the central liberal art of Astronomy, who also holds an armillary sphere, not to mention a compass was simply easier to draw than the three-dimensionally complex armillary sphere). Below are four Trecento examples of Prudence with armillary sphere in Florence and its contado: ceiling fresco, T. Gaddi, Cappella Baroncelli, S. Croce, Florence (1333); wall fresco by di Cino in Cattedrale di S. Zeno, Pistoia,(1347); Biondo altarpiece, S. Croce, Flroence (1379), wall fresco by Cenni, S. Miniato (1393):

The orb, such as the one held by Robert of Anjou, is simply the earth at the center of a concentric Ptolemaic universe. Prudence stares at that orb since she has insight into the movement of the heavens and the future (a gift given even to Marziano, just like the knowledgeable courtiers of the d'Este), and informs the wise king as such. The meaning in the Visconti illumination is no different in that Gian Galeazzo was a prudent ruler, yet also an eschatological prudence, given the presence of Christ, that can see so far into the future unto the end times, hence the Madonna of the Apocalypse illumination.

Prudence's allegorical viewing of the celestial circles was first illuminated by Francesco da Barberino around the same time as Giotto invented the compass attribute when they were both in Padua along with the astrologer d'Abano; in regard to which see the brilliant article by Eva Frojmovič, "Giotto's Circumspection", The Art Bulletin, Vol. 89, No. 2 (Jun., 2007), pp. 195-210; jstor link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25067314?seq=1 ). Barberino shows prudence shielding her eyes (in lieu of reflecting the heavens into a mirror), while staring into the concentric heavens; a second illumination in that same work (Documenta d'Amore) shows a detail of the concentric universe with Circumspectio, a part of Prudence per Aquinas, being able to view all around the orb of earth at the center of the heavens. Finally the "clubs" (actually tubes with eyes) stuck into the eyes of the allegorical figure over the Scrovegni's entrance into their famous chapel, opposite a fool symbol (with Prudence herself on the opposite wall to this entrance), is but an abridged form of the circumspection symbol (again see Frojmovič) - an allegorical message of the right way to view the virtues and vices in the chapel, ultimately in an eschatological context (the Last Judgement fresco at one end of the chapel).

Sorry for the side track here, but I felt it necessary to point out the significance of Prudence in the Besozzo miniature, with mirror pointed horizontally at Christ (and at Giangaleazzo who faces both Christ and Prudence).

Phaeded

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 02 Apr 2020, 17:33 That genealogy in the Visconti Hours is hard to interpret past Gian Galeazzo. I would assume that the small figure under him is Giovanni Maria. But what about the rest?

The guy facing Gian Galeazzo on the other side has a laurel wreath and a beard. In Michelino's genealogy, beards appear on Gian Galeazzo's father Galeazzo (II), and his father Stefano. Matteo, overleaf, does not have one, then Teobaldo does, then they are all beardless until the ancient ones (there is a "Fatius Comes", probably hundreds of years earlier).

So I'll assume that it is Gian Galeazzo's father Galeazzo. Who is the other son, below him? Did Gian Galeazzo have a brother?

Then who is the beardless one on top? Maybe Matteo one, who established the dynasty? Or Anglus, or Anchises...

Kirsh/Meiss note the alternating of woman above Giangaaleazzo, so I would assume Bianca of Savoy above him, Filippo's grandmother, and then the grandfather, Galeazzo II Visconti ('GALEAZ. VICECOMES' in Besezzo's medallion). After that I would assume the "abridging" kicks in - the laurel crowned bust indicative of all the classical Romans of the Visconti line in general, however its hard to imagine the very last young figure, looking at Filippo's back, is none other than Anglus, since Filippo took that as a formal name (perhaps shown as young since he is always thought of as Aeneas's grandson).

Phaeded wrote: 02 Apr 2020, 21:02 Kirsh/Meiss note the alternating of woman above Giangaaleazzo, so I would assume Bianca of Savoy above him, Filippo's grandmother, and then the grandfather, Galeazzo II Visconti ('GALEAZ. VICECOMES' in Besezzo's medallion). After that I would assume the "abridging" kicks in - the laurel crowned bust indicative of all the classical Romans of the Visconti line in general, however its hard to imagine the very last young figure, looking at Filippo's back, is none other than Anglus, since Filippo took that as a formal name (perhaps shown as young since he is always thought of as Aeneas's grandson).

Galeazzo II is bearded in Michelino, though, so I imagine that is a standard way of depicting him.

But otherwise I see your/their reasoning. The generic ancestor, laureate. Okay. Anglus I'm not so sure of, but if that's the best interpretation on offer, I'll have to take it. But how do Kirsh/Meiss know those other smooth faces are women? The headwear? The green shoot? I can convince myself, but I'd like to hear arguments as well.

Cognasso is not that expensive, by the way, so I'm going to buy it. Not sure how reliable the mail is these days, but I'll try.

It was reprinted in 1972 (a revised edition?) and 2016, paperback. Generally I like to buy books published the year I was born, though, so it's a hard call: go with the old hardcover original, or the newer ones?

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 02 Apr 2020, 21:12 But how do Kirsh/Meiss know those other smooth faces are women? The headwear? The green shoot? I can convince myself, but I'd like to hear arguments as well.

Hardly conclusive and more of a suggestion, based on the diaphanous veils that only cover the very tops of their heads.

LF57c and 58. These miniatures belong to a continuous pictorial tradition, traceable to the Early Christian period, in which Adam blames Ever and Eve blames the serpent for their transgression. The presence of mankind’s progenitors perhaps suggested to the illuminator a condensed genealogy of the Visconti as decoration of the borders on 57v. The profile at the top may represent Anchises, from whom the Visconti claimed descent. At the side are pairs of veiled profiles (perhaps women), wreathed men, and youths, The bust in the center of the lower margin probably represents Filippo Maria, portrayed like his father (BR 115) within a ring of pink and blue clouds set against golden rays. This painting depicts a much younger man than the portrait of Filippo Maria by Pisanello on the medal of around 1441.(no pagination - just commentary per plate, 1972)

The "pillbox" worn by the one on the left, looks a bit like these hats (perhaps updated a bit since the 13th century):

A partial veil from the lament to Robert of Anjou: It may just be a roll of hair held into a "net" contraption (the "hat" may instead be thread from the netting interwoven with hair encircled on top the head); think of the odd hairnet Bianca Viscounti wears in that profile portrait matched with her husband. This woman refers to the below as a crispinette, but those were usually in pairs and worn like earmuffs: https://bettina-lennert.livejournal.com/11922.html

As for Cognasso - paper or hardback - my rule of thumb is if the price difference is within 5 bucks, get the (vintage) hardback.

My lord this thread is getting dense. I feel like Boccaccio - at leisure to write due to plague....

Phaeded wrote: 02 Apr 2020, 16:04

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 02 Apr 2020, 08:57 ...
Castelletto says (f. 4 line 18) Aeneas is "filii Anchisis ex Venere iuniore filia Iovis," the son of Anchises from Venus junior, the daughter of Jove. Now the story of Anchises and Venus is in Boccaccio (VI, 51), and in the Vatican mythographers, but they do not say which Venus it is, just that he was loved by Venus....

Phaeded said
The second [Venus] is by no means insignificant as her story involves many stories pertaining to Cyprus, and Boccacio's dedicatee is none other than the King of Cyprus, Hugo IV (Boccaccio even addresses the king directly in this section). But first Boccaccio says the scythe that emasculated Saturn fell to Sicily....which is from where Aeneas is blown by Aeolus to Africa and Dido. Later Boccaccio specifies the Sicilian city of Drepanum (aka Drepana, modern Trepani), as what ultimately became of the sickle or scythe (its mentioned both ways), which is the site in the Aeneid of the death and funeral games of Anchises (III.23.6; incidentally, on the way to Sicily, father and son consult the oracle of Apollo at Delos, at which point Marziano must have conflated Delphi with Delos, not realizing the latter had its own oracle - that is a crucial slip-up pointing to the Aeneid as being on Marziano's mind).

And to clarify and augment what the "slip-up" was for readers unfamiliar with the exchange between Ross and myself in a different thread, Marziano calls Delphi an island, mistakenly conflating Delos with Delphi. The Aeneid provides a rationale as to what confused Marziano.

Additional info on this last point is based on the assumption that Marziano used Capella's 16 divisions of the sky from his Marriage of Philology and Mercury as the impetus for his 16 heroum in his DSH, but also some of the deity details, particularly here for Apollo. Apollo plays an out-sized role in Capella, for it is to him that Mercury, along with his adviser Virtue, seek out advice as to whom Mercury should marry (Apollo names Philology which greatly pleases both Virtue and Mercury). They explore all of Apollo's usual haunts (always finding scraps of dried laurel to indicate he had been there), and finally getting an indication of his whereabouts:

At length they learned by rumor that the rock of Parnassus rejoiced in the presence of Phoebus, although from there too it was said that the he had later move to an Indian mountain's secret crag, shrouded in perpetual clouds. Yet Mercury and Virtue visited the Cirrhaean retreat.... (William Harris Stahl, Richard Johnson, Martianus Capella and the Seven Liberal Arts, Vol. II: The Marriage of Philology and Mercury, 1977: 9)

This is an exceedingly obtuse passage, as Stahl explains in the related footnote 25:

The ancient town of Cirrha, on the Gulf of Corinth, was near Delphi and served as its port. Although Mercury and Virtue find Apollo near Delphi, and there is no mention of their departure thence until [section] 26, it is obvious that Martianus is here creating an allegorical picture with no reference to the actual topography around Delphi (ibid).

Moreover, Martianus never actually names Delphi! No wonder Marziano was confused on this point. Furthermore, even though Apollo is speaking to Mercury and Virtue from atop Parnassus/Delphi, when Mercury thanks his brother for the recommendation he only refers to him as Delian (from Apollo's oracle at Delos):

....judgment prompts me to obey the Delian oracle.

I think it is sacrilege to regard the Delian utterances as ambiguous.....

Try then, Delian, to ensure that the Thunderer should give the same decision, that he should give willing approval; for you are used to moving his will, you are alert to influence his predispositions; get him to approve your commands; I pray that his holy will shone upon what has begun" (ibid, 15).

So all three references to Apollo by the protagonist (actually the bride, Philology, is more of the protagonist) are "Delian", even while Apollo sits on Parnassus/Delphi. No wonder Marziano conflated Delphi with Delos (errantly calling Delphi an island, which he would have known from the Aeneid) , but the case for said confusion is much stronger in Capella than in Virgil.

Phaeded

Phaeded wrote: 03 Apr 2020, 17:02 And to clarify and augment what the "slip-up" was for readers unfamiliar with the exchange between Ross and myself in a different thread, Marziano calls Delphi an island, mistakenly conflating Delos with Delphi. The Aeneid provides a rationale as to what confused Marziano.

Yes exactly, and that is the only possible explanation for the confusion. I am also sure that Marziano was well-versed in the other Marziano, Cappella, not only because it was a school standard, but because of the namesake, which was not so common.. Along with the hagiography of the saint of Tortona, Marziano the martyr.

You make a compelling argument for the weight of Cappella's Delian, so I'll accept it. The sixteen divisions, on the other hand, I'm not convinced by yet. There is just no comparison with the choices, so the number is a mere coincidence. To me the essential fourfold design provides enough justification for adding four more to the Dii consentes. All that remains to be explained - or at least explored - is the reasoning behind the choices. For that I'm still largely following you on Aeolus and Daphne.

Any thoughts on Hercules? Or is he just self-evident (my current assumption)? One thing to keep in mind about Hercules is that Marziano, following Boccaccio, makes no mention, or even alludes to, the "Twelve Labors." Marziano has 13, Boccaccio has 30. Here is a comparison chart with the medieval sources (Betussi is the Italian translation of Boccaccio, still the only one, 1547) -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

Marziano matches nobody's selection or order, he just choses at will.

I hope you are keeping close notes of all of these points, for the inevitable time that I ask for your commentary on DSH for publication in a collection.

Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote: 03 Apr 2020, 18:52

Any thoughts on Hercules? Or is he just self-evident (my current assumption)?

Off the top of my head I was going to offer Hercules as a civilizing influence in Italy (preceding Aeneas), and looking up the details it appears that hunch is right....although the detailed answer is not a straight forward one.

Honestly, you made me go reread Marziano's Hercules because I've paid the least attention to that one. But first the background on Hercules in Italy.

The Romans indirectly linked Hercules’ Tenth (9th in Marziano) Labor to Italy, which required that he acquire the cattle of Geryon. In Italy, Cacus stole Hercules’ cattle and hid them in his cave. Hercules discovered Cacus’ location and slew him in combat. Evander, as known from the Aeneid, proclaimed Heracles to be a son of Jove (Zeus) and established the cult of Hercules in Italy. The Hercules stories first featured in Fabius Pictor’s account (c. 125 BCE) but were revisited and
greatly expanded by Ovid, Horace, Propertius, Livy, and Virgil - let's assume Marziano was most influenced by this last, as he apparently was for Aeolus. In Virgil's Aeneid, a cave on the Aventine Hill's rocky slope is home to the monster Cacus, killed by Hercules, again, for stealing Geryon's cattle. In Book 8 of the Aeneid, the native Evander recounts to Aeneas the story of the conflict of Hercules and Cacus. This Hercules-Cacus parallels the relationship between Aeneas and Turnus, Aeneas’ nemesis and indeed implicitly identifies Aeneas with Hercules and Turnus with Cacus. The Aventine Hill is crucial for Rome's founding myth, for Romulus and Remus hold a contest of augury, whose outcome determines the right to found, name and lead a new city, and to determine its site. In most versions of the story, Remus sets up his augural tent on the Aventine; Romulus sets his up on the Palatine. Nevermind that Remus lost, the connection of Hercules with Rome's origins is on the Aventine.

Without grounding oneself in this backstory of Hercules on the Aventine, where Cacus dwelled, and the subsequent events of Rome's early founding, Marziano's text seems ambiguous, but given the above the Marziano passage now comes into clear relief:

...and Cacus, his house always warm with fresh human blood, on Mount Aventius. And the lands, having been liberated from those horrors, dedicated temples to sacred Hercules." (your DSH translation, p. 77)

By "civilizing" the Aventine Hill, Hercules indirectly allows for crucial Roman events to unfold, especially once Aeneas arrives (and of course, allows Aeneas's grandson to go found the Visconti, which is ultimately what Filippo wants to be flattered with).

Cacus is not a part of the traditional 12 labors of Hercules - but you can see why Marziano added this as the 13th (not numbered that way because he has to follow Geryon, chronologically) . Yet another less than explicit link to the Aeneid in Marziano.

BTW: If all of us ever get to travel again and you find Rome on your itinerary, the Aventine is the quietest of Rome's hills (its a damn noisy city). Unsolicited travel advice....

Phaeded

Another very important "number 16" is the date upon which Filippo Maria captured the castle, Porta Giovia, and the rest of Milan - Thursday, 16 June, 1412. He made this day, the feast of Saint Giulitta the martyr, as a special day of festivity in the city, in which I believe there had been no special veneration before.

Bartolomeo Morone's Il libro di ricordi (aka Cronaca) says die Iovis XVI iunii (die Iovis = Thursday).

Decembrio Vita 8, gives a strangely garbled account of the dates, and an archaic way of expressing it, which nevertheless allows him to write the day as 16, "sexto ac decimo Kalendas Iulias." instead of the straighforward way Moroni wrote it, and as it appears in the contemporary documents.

Somewhere, I can't find the damned reference now, there is record of a letter sent to Voghera (I believe) which stated that he entered the city (not sure which gate, presumably Vercellina, the closest to the castle) at 9 am on that day. I imagine the day and time were chosen for their astrological significance, which would be interesting to see (propitious aspects for Jupiter, Mars?).

So on Jupiter's day, in Juno's month, he gained the castle of Jupiter-Gate.

Just more of the coincidences I'm sure he didn't miss.

I actually think it would be a worthwhile endeavor to construct Filippo Maria's natal chart, as well as June 16 1412 at 9 am, to compare them. We know they did it for him, and that he consulted Dondi's clock regularly. One would have to be an expert in historical astrology, though, or know the sources, which I do not.

Phaeded wrote: 04 Apr 2020, 00:42 Off the top of my head I was going to offer Hercules as a civilizing influence in Italy (preceding Aeneas), and looking up the details it appears that hunch is right....although the detailed answer is not a straight forward one.

Cacus is not a part of the traditional 12 labors of Hercules - but you can see why Marziano added this as the 13th (not numbered that way because he has to follow Geryon, chronologically) . Yet another less than explicit link to the Aeneid in Marziano.

Excellent insights, thanks!

So Hercules is added as an example of the same thing as Jupiter - civilizing influence, but directly related to Filippo Maria's genealogy via Rome.
Aeolus is added in the same Aeneid-Roman vein, as an implicit allusion to Dido, thence Beatrice - perhaps. He represents opposition, a detour, trouble.
Daphne is the other Beatrice, Dante's, and especially Petrarch's Laura, but in the hopes that instead of losing her, he gains an heir by a worthy girl,

And Cupid is the stupid. Watch out for it.