Re: The E-Series model book

52
Hi, Kate,
Kate wrote:I assume—and, please, correct me where I’ve erred—that Shepherd essentially used a revised Sacrobosco geocentric model
The basic cosmological scheme is not in any way proprietary or unique to Sacrobosco. In terms of the four elements, seven planets, and some (one or more levels) higher realm, this was perfectly conventional. It is commonly known as the Aristotelian model. There are hundreds of illustrations of this conventional model, and many examples are collected in The Cosmographical Glass, by S.K. Heninger Jr. Here is an example from a Harvard manuscript of De Sphaera Mundi.


Kate wrote:composed of five concentric spheres for each of the E-Series model book decades as listed below; is that correct? Can you expand on this insofar as the rationale/supporting arguments for this model?
Here's a bit of Shephard (with an "a"), sorting out the overall programme of the series, "the plan underlying the series as a whole".
John Shephard wrote:The Mantegna Tarocchi is constructed of five sets of ten prints. Each print bears at its foot a letter identifying its set (in the first edition E, D, C, B, A), a title in Italian, and a consecutive number (1 to 50). <...>

The subjects are largely traditional and, like the tarot trumps when taken individually, can mostly be found in other fields of art—in books, illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculpture in churches and so on. The real problem for us is not so much the source of ideas for the individual prints but, rather, the plan underlying the series as a whole.

The key to the basic structure is given by the last print of the series, the First Cause (Figure A). This is a sort of model or schematic diagram of the hierarchy of the universe, of a kind not uncommon in those days. A broadly similar diagram from a sixteenth-century book, [a 1519 edition of Aristotle’s Libri de Caelo] though with some minor differences in some of the circles, is shown for comparison in Figure B.

The hub of the cosmological wheel is formed by four inner concentric circles representing the spheres of Earth, Water, Air and Fire, the four elements of the sublunar world, the mingling and mixture of whose qualities determined the natures of everything in the regions below the sphere of the moon. The elements should not be regarded as identical with their counterparts in the physical world but rather as symbolizing the essential principles underlying terrestrial earth, terrestrial water and so on.

The innermost of the four circles in the Mantegna diagram shows the sphere of Earth. This corresponds to the first set of prints, E, the Ranks of Man, in which all the figures are purely human, from the Beggar up to the Pope. This is the world of human personality, the world of everyday life on Earth.

The next circle in the diagram shows the sphere of Water. This corresponds to the second set of prints, D, figures of the Muses and Apollo. The Muses brought the arts to mankind; they stirred the artistic emotions in man and woman. They were believed to live on Earth around springs and streams, particularly the Castalian spring on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. They were nymphs, spirits of Water.

The third circle shows the sphere of Air and corresponds to the third set, C, of the prints, allegorical figures of the seven Liberal Arts and the three great wisdom disciplines of Philosophy, Astrology, and Theology. Instruction and teaching of all kinds were thought to have affinity with the element of Air.

The fourth circle shows the sphere of Fire and corresponds to the fourth set of the prints, B, in which all the figures are of angelic nature: Iliaco, Chronico, Cosmico and the four Cardinal Virtues and the three Theological Virtues. The sphere of Fire, highest and most rarefied of the four sublunar elements, was the home of the angels, the messenger spirits who had form but no physical bodies. They could cross the lunar boundary which divided the celestial regions from those below; they could rise to Heaven but they could also descend to Earth. The soul, which shared in the nature of both Heaven and Earth, was regarded as having affinity in many ways with the sphere of Fire.

The four innermost circles in the cosmic diagram thus represented the spheres of the four elements of the sublunar world and corresponded to the first four sets of the Mantegna prints. Around them and encompassing them come the circles of the spheres of the Heavens, the celestial and divine worlds, shown in the final set, A, of the prints. In this set are the seven planets of antiquity, the eighth sphere of the zodiac and the fixed stars, and the ninth sphere of the Primum Mobile, the First Moving Sphere which sets in motion the rotation of the heavens and the rising of all the stars and planets.

Finally comes the First Cause, represented in our diagram by three further circles the outermost of which is fringed with sunlike radiance spreading out to infinity; these stand for the Trinity—the Holy Spirit, Christ the King of Heaven, and God the Father—they may also carry a more humanistic interpretation along neoplatonic lines.
(Shephard 44-47.)
Whether or not this was the designer's intended meaning (intentio auctoris), it is a great parallel. As such, it may be said to reflect the intentio operis, a conventional meaning more-or-less clearly conveyed by the work. As such, it provides an explanation for the arrangement beyond a general hierarchy. Whether such additional explanation is required is debatable, but the fact that the fifth decade is precisely this form of cosmographic hierarchy makes it plausible that the four lower decades were intended as an analogy to the four lower aspects of the cosmos, the elements.

As an aside, in The Survival of the Pagan Gods, Jean Seznec wrote that the E-Series prints showed a Cosmos “from which every trace of Christianity has disappeared”. In fact, the hierarchy shows an obviously Christian Cosmos. The Pope is the highest of the ranks of man. How much more Roman Catholic could one get? Apollo, leader of the Muses, was a conventional allegory of Christ, so that in a Christian context the parallel would be clear. Theology sits atop the Liberal Arts, the highest of them all. Then there is the allusion to the Trinity in First Cause illustration: if you count the spheres, the highest sphere is depicted with three bands. There is also the inclusion of the three Christian Virtues at the conclusion of the middle three decades. Faith is illustrated with a cross and ciborium; Hope is shown with a phoenix, (conventional symbol of Christ), and the figure displays a conventional posture that was an iconographic attribute of the Christian Hope of resurrection; Charity reveals a flaming heart, and is shown with a pelican—both symbolic of Christ’s Charity/Love. All these elements reflect an over-arching Christian design in the E-Series model book.

There are some parallels with the design of Tarot. Most obviously, at the bottom of both is a Ranks of Man motif, culminating in an emperor and pope. More importantly, each cycle of images is divided into different types of subject matter. In the E-Series there are five different groupings, explicitly labeled. In the Tarot trump cycle there are three. The lowest trumps are identified as a Ranks of Man by their highest members, Emperor and Pope. The middle trumps are conventional allegories such as Love, Virtue, Time, Fortune, and Death, while the highest are subjects from Christian eschatology. Recognizing these groupings, first identified by Michael Dummett, is a prerequisite to any non-fatuous interpretation of the trump cycle as a whole.

In contrast with the Tarot trumps, which illustrate a Medieval Christian summa of salvation, the E-Series illustrates a Neoplatonic Christian schematic, more characteristic of the Renaissance. This difference in content is paralleled by the difference in artistic styles of the model book versus Tarot. The model book was intended to provide patterns for artists to represent common subjects in a pleasing modern style. Both content and style differences are representative of changes that took place in Northern Italy during the middle of the fifteenth century. Each of the designs typifies its original milieu, even though only separated by a few decades.
Kate wrote:Further, the E-Series Model Book comports with the Lazzarelli Model (ca. 1471). Lazzarelli’s Book I links the Spheres (E-Series 50-41) with Music (E-Series 26), presumably, in reference to the “Music of the Spheres.” Lazzarelli’s Book II links Apollo Musagetes, plus the nine muses (E-Series 20-11) with Poetry (E-Series 27).
Lazzarelli's poem covered many of the same subjects, and he used the E-Series prints as they were intended to be used: as a model book (aka pattern book) of images to illustrate a work of his own. The 50 designs were used in this fashion many times over the next two centuries, in many works in different media. Most of these were discovered and cataloged by Arthur M. Hind. Below are a couple of Hind's examples, reproduced by Andrea Vitali in his Il Tarocchino di Bologna.

Best regards,
Michael



We are either dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, or we are just dwarfs.

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

53
Kate wrote: Additionally, Lazzarelli’s Book II lists five gods, possibly in reference to the five elements—[speculating] Pluto (earth); Neptune (water); Juno (air); Athene (fire); and Victoria/Nike (ether). Do you have any further information insofar as Lazzarelli’s portrayal of these gods?


Pictures

If your question is about the 5 last pictures in Lazzarelli:
http://trionfi.com/mantegna/
(look in the menu)

There are also Lazzarelli pictures, though in not very fine state, and as far we were able to get them some years ago. The quality of the pictures is bad, not in reality, but just, what we have:

Image


The 4 gods beside Athena are all "on chariot", Athena herself should be similar to 28 Philosophy, Mantegna Tarocchi.

Which would give Athena likely the central "aither" role. Similar like poetry reigns Apoll and 9 Muses and Musica the spheres (Mantegna Tarocchi 26+27).

The composition:
"3 sons of Kronos" (Juno replacing her husband Jupiter, who was already as used in the spheres)
Nike or Victory,, cause she stood for the chariot.
Athena, cause she jumped out of the head of Zeus.

Lazzarelli (poet) had Poetry/Musica ambitions. In that time of his career (1471) he was also interested in astronomy.

Lazzarelli

It's a deciding point, if Lazzarelli in 1471 knew the Mantegna Tarocchi as a complete edition (in other words: did the Mantegna Tarocchi with 50 numbered motifs exist ?), or if he just played a little bit around with some (not numbered) pictures, which he had found in a Venetian store.

Arthur M. Hind had given arguments, that some motifs of the Mantegna Tarocchi appeared 1467/68 ('however, all not framed or numbered) and from this he concluded, that the Mantegna Tarocchi was fixed and ready around 1465.
However, the situation is so, that one can turn the table, and assume, that just Lazzarelli gathered some motifs in the boo store 1471, and then formed first his 27 pictures book (with 23 Mantegna Tarocchi motifs) and second (later) the 50-numbered-pictures model (or, alternative "somebody", who knew Lazzarelli's work and pictures, made it).

Studies on these conditions led to the situation, that this other reading of the facts led to a complex theory, and Hind's assumption had led to nothing (cause there is no artist, who might be presented).
The argumentation for this is very complex.

The printer Sweynheim, who also had the commission to care for a complex book edition (Ptolemy) with many difficult copperplate engravings (he got this commission in 1473), might have had also the control about the Mantegna Tarocchi production around 1475, likely made for the Jubilee year in Rome (Sweynheim worked in Rome, mostly for papal commissions).
Lazzarelli likely hadn't been in Rome before 1475, but likely Lorenzo Zane (an archbishop of Spalato, with astrological interests, used by papal circles often in military or "difficult" commissions) who knew Lazzarelli and was an important man in Rome, was active.
Lorenzo Zane had been in leading function on a military operation in summer/autumn 1474. The military situation was decided by the duke of Urbino, Montefeltro (who later had the Lazzarelli edition). Montefeltro went then to Rome, became highest general of the Chiesa and got the duke title. Lazzarelli got 50 ducats from Montefeltro. Montefeltro had the Lazzarelli-manuscript, dedicated to the "duke of Urbino" and he also used other Mantegna Tarocchi motifs in another work in his library.

Lazzarelli (a poet in the province before) became then (in or after 1475) a "poet in Rome", as part of the Accademia Romana. Lorenzo Zane became involved in a scandal in highest papal circles in winter 1476/77 (very serious trouble between Girolamo Riario, husband of Caterina Sforza) and cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, 30 years later pope Julius, both the very important nephews of the scandal-pope Sixtus IV), and Lazzarelli later expressed disappointment about him.
The context of the trouble is rather dark. But some time later some persons were involved in the assassination attempt on Lorenzo di Medici.
Sacrobosco Model: Chronico, Cosmico, Helical

As I understand it, “Chronico” relates to the “poetic” (?) ascent/descent of (6) astrological signs at sunset, “Cosmico” to the ascent/descent of (6) signs at sunrise, and “Helical” to the emergence or cloaking of signs due to their relative proximity to the Sun.

I’m really having a hard time wrapping my mind around this. Originally, I understood “Chronico” as “Time” in contrast to “Cosmico” as “World”. As such, the iconography of the ouroborus for Chronico and globe for Cosmico made sense to me. Can you explain how you understand these items in terms of the decade?

Btw, I couldn’t help noticing a certain pattern on this forum—Ross as a goat head with the motto, “Pedant”; Huck in fool’s cap with ass ears; and Mike as a skull. Very Shakespearean or Bruno-esque.
Accademia Romana

Astronomy (and connected themes like geography) had the character of a "big fashion" and got public attention. "Wild Rome", often without pope, had its own ways to react. One rather relevant feature of the 60ies and also later was the flourishing Accademia Romana. This developed with Pope Pius II, but things changed, when Paul became pope in 1464. He reduced the costs by reducing the scribes, and naturally many of the intellectuals lived from these jobs, for which they often had paid before for getting them. So he naturally wasn't loved, and intellectuals have ways to express their critique.
In 1468 there was from the pope's side a major attack on the "intellectual life", which brought some members of he Accademia Romana into prison, where they occasionally were also tortured. The accusations were various, between them also misconduct in sexual behavior (sodomy).
The pope spared a lot of money, which he dedicated for a crusade, which in his time never took place.

When Sixtus became pope, he had a lot of money, which he could distribute, especially to his nephews. The family had a relative poor background in Savano (near Genova, rather outside of the Italian mainstream). In his time Sixtus was able to establish the Riario/Rovere family in Italy in a long lasting way, from an unimportant half French position before.

Sixtus restored the Accademia Romana, so Sixtus got the intellectuals on his side. The nephews threw the money out of the windows, so they were loved. He organized a crusade, which was celebrated as a victory, but had not much value. He spend a lot of money on the infrastructure in Rome (new buildings).

The situation naturally attracted a lot of persons (like Lazzarelli and other poets), which wanted to make her life by papal grace. The "high renaissance" made its way with a dance on the vulcano, which erupted with the reformation
and a Sacco di Roma.

The situation was naturally complex. The year 1471 is the year, when the printing press "exploded" to become a relevant "new media". A totally new time appeared, with new winners and losers.

Cosmico, Chronico and Iliaco .... in Accademia Romana

As you likely have seen, the termini "Cosmico" and "Iliaco" and "Chronico" didn't get a great attention (we don't find much to them in the search engine). In the early time of the Accademia two of them were used as nick names (Latin "nick names" or "pseudonyms" became popular then).

Niccolo Lelio Cosmico
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/nic ... rafico%29/

For the "Chronico" use as "nick name" we had once a poem inside the Accademia Romana development (1461-68), where "Chronico" appeared without explanation, who this should be.
Trying to find it now I get negative results, so for the moment that's a "fiction". At least it's clear for "Niccolo Lelio Cosmico".

About "Niccolo Lelio Cosmico" ...
http://www.giovannidallorto.com/biograf ... smico.html
"Rossi ha pubblicato anche un epigramma latino anonimo in cui Cosmico è accusato di sodomizzare il poeta maccheronico Tìfi Odasi (sec. XV-1492)"
... and other notes (the page collects notes about homosexuality in 15th century)

Ah, I found it (the searched poem):
II 140.
Ad Cronicum.
(A Cronico).

Litterulis denis, moneo, mercabere culum,
bis quater acceptis, qui negat esse tuus.
Has quoque si renuit, "bis denas accipe" dicas
et totidem iungas, si satis esse negat.
Mille licet tribuas, emitur bene, Cronice, culus,
dum satis ad pretium scripta papyrus erit.
http://www.giovannidallorto.com/lavori/callimaco1.html
(from the same domain)
text by Filippo Buonaccorsi ("Callimaco Esperiente", 1437-1496), who had an interesting life, cause he escaped the papal persecutions 1468.
He went to Poland and had later contact to Conrad Celtis (a man of high importance in Germany).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Buonaccorsi

Looking at the same domain for "Iliaco" I get this ...

Settimuleio Campano (il Campanino, sec. XV-1469/71)
http://www.giovannidallorto.com/lavori/campanino.html
In Cinnam.

Iliaco similem pedicas nocte ministrum,
podice iam lasso deperit ipse puer.

Tu quoque, dum uigilas natibus coniunctus eburnis
et capiunt dentis lactea colla notam,

non dormis somnumque negas tibi: cogeris ergo,
proh pudor, in medio stertere, Cinna, die.
At the same page I found a reference to "Cosmicum"
Ad Cosmicum.

Myrtea dicentur te iudice pallida, cum tu
videris Aeacidae roscida labra mei.
Campano had some role as teacher of Lazzarelli in the late 1460s.

New: Martial detection

Looking a little bit around, I found this for "Iliaco" ...
an epigramm from Martial, a Spanish poet, who came to Rome in 64 AD, c. 1400 years before the Accademia Romana.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial
Here he lived 35 years, before returning to Spain, a longer time as a "poor poet". He might have well have had some interests by the new "poor poets", which formed in Rome during the 1460s in the Accademia Romana.

Image


"Iliaco" close to "Ganymede" (the male lover of Zeus) might have gotten some attention.
Sacrobosco didn't use "Iliaco", but "Heliaco", as far I'm informed and remember. Somebody changed the word.

My Latin is not good enough to understand this poem, and to make much of it. I saw the suggestion "colicky" for this word "Iliaco" in another epigram, but I've the suspicion, that this makes no sense in the context.
Book 3, epigramm 39

Iliaco similem puerum, Faustine, ministro
iliacus, iliaca, iliacum colicky
similis, simile, similior -or -us, simillimus -a -umlike, similar, resembling
puer, pueri Mboy, lad, young man; servant; child
faustus, fausta, faustumfavorable; auspicious; lucky, prosperous
ministro, ministrare, ministravi, ministratusattend, serve, furnish; supply

lusca Lycoris amat. Quam bene lusca uidet!
luscus, lusca, luscum - one-eyed
amo, amare, amavi, amatus - love, like; fall in love with; be fond of; have a tendency to
bene, melius, optime - well, very, quite, rightly, agreeably, cheaply, in good style; better; best
luscus, lusca, luscum - one-eyed
http://nodictionaries.com/martial/epigrams-3/39

As a translation suggestion I get ...
XXXIX. TO FAUSTINUS.

The one-eyed Lycoris, Faustinus, has set her affections on a boy like the Trojan shepherd. How well the one-eyed Lycoris sees!
http://nodictionaries.com/martial/epigrams-3/39

Well, who is the "Trojan shepherd"? Is this Ganymede again ?

I need help here.

I find this ...

Image

Image

http://books.google.de/books?id=KBoEG6G ... al&f=false

... "The Garden of Priapus" , where the author Amy Richlin had stumbled about the same passage as me. And comes to similar "erotic" conclusions.

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

Martial in Rome

A statements of the wiki article:
"The works of Martial became highly valued on their discovery by the Renaissance, whose writers often saw them as sharing an eye for the urban vices of their own times."

Inspired by this I looked at the search engine for "Wiegendrucke" ...
http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/
... I get only one result for 15th century, and this is ...

http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke ... ALDDOM.htm
Calderinus, Domitius
... who more than once published about Martial, but in essence it's this ...
05887 Calderinus, Domitius: Commentarii in Martialem. Daran: Defensio ad Corelium. Mit Beig. von M. Lucidus Phosphorus. Rom: Johann Gensberg auf Kosten u. Veranlassung des Johannes Aloisius Tuscanus, 22.III.1474. 2°
Other editions followed, most all in the same year.

Domitius Calderinus cooperated with Sweynheim in the Ptolemy edition of 1478, which is of general importance for the Mantegna Tarocchi research. The cooperation started 1473.
Calderinus was very close to the inner circle of the papal court in that time.

Johann Gensberg made 46 known prints in 1473-75 in Rome.
M. Lucidus Phospherus, later bishop of Segni, added a poem.

Here I read ...
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/LotD ... ID=3035955
..., that Georgius Merula .... "a year after bringing Calderino's Martial commentary on the market, De Colonia and Manthen published Georgius Merula's edition of Martial's epigrams (H 10812)" ... also wrote about Martial's epigrams.
Merula had been Lazzarelli's instructor in his time in Venice.

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

Thanks

Well, thanks, that you made me to look this up again. From that, what I read this afternoon it looks to me, as if "Iliaco" is a conscious variant on Sacrobosco's "Heliaco" for very personal reasons, likely inspired by specific passages written by Martial, which possibly in the "Roman Accademia scene" were just "very popular".

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

A further research problem

Somewhere I saw, that Martial's epigrams showed up at a specific time during Renaissance (I don't know for the moment, at which time). It might be interesting to know this time.

The Wiegendrucke give only the printing date, somewhere the text must have been detected (at least I assume this for the moment).
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

54
Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:
Kate wrote: Btw, I couldn’t help noticing a certain pattern on this forum—Ross as a goat head with the motto, “Pedant”; Huck in fool’s cap with ass ears; and Mike as a skull. Very Shakespearean or Bruno-esque.
But am I Petruchio or Hamlet?
Well, I’d imagine, by reason of having to ask that question, you must be Hamlet.

Regards,
Kate

Re: The E-Series model book

55
Dear Mike,
As an aside, in The Survival of the Pagan Gods, Jean Seznec wrote that the E-Series prints showed a Cosmos “from which every trace of Christianity has disappeared”. In fact, the hierarchy shows an obviously Christian Cosmos.
Yes, one encounters statements like this often. If not simply born of complete ignorance of the subject under study, such statements can be translated to, “This does not comport with my understanding of Christianity” or “my conception of historical Christianity.”
The 50 designs were used in this fashion many times over the next two centuries, in many works in different media.
Which is why I am here, plying you with incessant questions, so that I may understand their import.

Thank you for your most thoughtful response.

Warmly,
Kate

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

56
Addenda for the work "Iliaco" (on the painting given as "Iliacus"; as this it has also use in English language) ...

One of the Spanish explanations is ...
ilíaco, -ca o iliaco, -ca2 adj.
1 De Troya (antigua ciudad de Asia Menor, también llamada Ilión). troyano.
— s. m. y f./adj.
2 Persona que era de Troya o Ilión. troyano.
So a person of Troja (from "Ilion"). But it's also used i medical language.

In Portuguese language there is a Muscolo Iliaco ...

Image

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BAsculo_il%C3%ADaco

... at a place, which has some homoerotic associations.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

57
Dear Huck,
If your question is about the 5 last pictures in Lazzarelli:
http://trionfi.com/mantegna/
(look in the menu)
I've visited this website many times, but never noticed these last pix. So stupid of me. Thank you.
The 4 gods beside Athena are all "on chariot", Athena herself should be similar to 28 Philosophy, Mantegna Tarocchi.

Which would give Athena likely the central "aither" role. Similar like poetry reigns Apoll and 9 Muses and Musica the spheres (Mantegna Tarocchi 26+27).
Interesting perspective. For clarification, are you suggesting that Athene, as ether, would be at the central hub of the wheel and the other four gods at the rim or, alternatively, each representing 90 degrees of the circle?
The composition:
"3 sons of Kronos" (Juno replacing her husband Jupiter, who was already as used in the spheres)
Nike or Victory,, cause she stood for the chariot.
Athena, cause she jumped out of the head of Zeus.
And what elemental associations are you giving the other gods...Pluto (earth), Juno (fire), Nike (air), and Neptune (water)?
Montefeltro had the Lazzarelli-manuscript, dedicated to the "duke of Urbino" and he also used other Mantegna Tarocchi motifs in another work in his library.
Yes. The Gubbio makes for fascinating study . . . and, perhaps, presents us with yet another muse:planetary model. For example, Erato (symbol, tambourine) with Venus?

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6601/gubbio35.jpg
The "high renaissance" made its way with a dance on the vulcano, which erupted with the reformation
and a Sacco di Roma
A highly insightful characterization!
Cosmico, Chronico and Iliaco .... in Accademia Romana

As you likely have seen, the termini "Cosmico" and "Iliaco" and "Chronico" didn't get a great attention (we don't find much to them in the search engine). In the early time of the Accademia two of them were used as nick names (Latin "nick names" or "pseudonyms" became popular then).

Looking a little bit around, I found this for "Iliaco" ...
an epigramm from Martial, a Spanish poet, who came to Rome in 64 AD, c. 1400 years before the Accademia Romana.

"Iliaco" close to "Ganymede" (the male lover of Zeus) might have gotten some attention.
Sacrobosco didn't use "Iliaco", but "Heliaco", as far I'm informed and remember. Somebody changed the word.

From that, what I read this afternoon it looks to me, as if "Iliaco" is a conscious variant on Sacrobosco's "Heliaco" for very personal reasons, likely inspired by specific passages written by Martial, which possibly in the "Roman Accademia scene" were just "very popular".
So, possibly something of an inside joke. Could it also have planetary associations--viz. Chronico & Cosmico for the hermaphrodite or union of Mercury & Venus? Iliaco/Ganymede for the Moon?

Thank you and warm regards,
Kate

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

58
Kate wrote:
The 4 gods beside Athena are all "on chariot", Athena herself should be similar to 28 Philosophy, Mantegna Tarocchi.

Which would give Athena likely the central "aither" role. Similar like poetry reigns Apoll and 9 Muses and Musica the spheres (Mantegna Tarocchi 26+27).
Interesting perspective. For clarification, are you suggesting that Athene, as ether, would be at the central hub of the wheel and the other four gods at the rim or, alternatively, each representing 90 degrees of the circle?
One person in the middle (Athena), the others diving their chariots around her, or, as standard for Fortune representations, Athena somehow reigning the wheel, but naturally as "Philosophy", not as "Fortune", in Lazzarelli's mind.

Perhaps less in the style of elements, but more in the style of 4 seasons.

The general story about the text is, that it was made for Borso. But possibly Lazzarelli adapted it for Federico. Possibly the last 5 were additional figures, which Lazzarelli made, when he knew, that it was for Federico? Borso and with him "Ferrrara had a favor for Muses ... the first 22 got 9 Muses + Apollo.

There we have the condition, that Montefeltro's wife died, July 1472. The wife had been painted on a chariot, with Montefeltro on the other part of the pictures also on a chariot.

http://distortedarts.com/wp-content/upl ... A17628.jpg

http://distortedarts.com/lives-battista-sforza/

Likely you know it. The other side of the picture has portraits of the both.
Made after the death of Battista Sforza, so close to the date, when Montefeltro got the text of Lazzarelli.

So Lazzarelli had a reason to make something with chariots, if he thought, that he or his book might find a sponsor in Montefeltro.

Nike - young girl - spring
Hera - married woman - summer
Hades/Pluto/Death - the woman (Battista) has died - autumn
Neptun - "something with a boat" ? - water - winter

"Something with a boat" occurs in one of the editions of Lazzarelli's text in context to the name "Federico". I remember, that only one version had this passage (?), at least there's some confusion about it.

So perhaps a complex "literary game", in which Lazzarelli suggests "philosophy" as answer on the personal destiny problems of Montefeltro. A "communicative gesture", not really a "general model".

In the following time 1475-76, when the studiolos became a theme, Montefeltro seems to have gotten a favor for the number "28", very clear in the 28 pictures of famous persons. 27 is not so far from 28.
In the year 1473 or 1474 there was a guest from the court of Persia in Urbino, who searched for military assistance in the war against the Osmans. The Church had done a "small crusade" in 1472/73 and showed intention to proceed with this project. Montefeltro was end of 1474 chief of the papal army, and so somehow the logical general, who should have organized it.
In Persia was then a specific chess version popular, called Tamerlane chess, in which 28 figures fought against 28 figures on a bard with 112 fields (112 = 4x28).
Tamerlane was a great general, who loved chess and he - more a Mongol than a Persian - ruled over a very large Persia, which once successfully reduced the Osmans, when they were ready to take Constantinople (in 1403). Tamerlane saved Constantinople then, not by friendly intentions towards Constantinople, but just by the condition, that he saw the Osmans as a serious opponent. In 1405 he thought it necessary to reconstitute Mongolian rule in China. The winter came early this year and this ended the operation and the life of Tamerlane.

The visitor of Persia is left. Montefeltro is easy to recognize.



2 important knight orders gave Montefeltro a membership, a clear sign, that there was some intention to make him a great commander (if it wasn't just for the act, that he became duke). But Uzun Hassan (ruler of Persia then) lost a battle in late Summer 1473 and later stopped his intentions. Bu it naturally wasn't immediately understood in Italy, that Uzun Hassan would stop his engagement.

The great distance between Persia and Italy had been a communicative problem, especially as the short ways were blocked by the Osmans.
Travels could take a half year or longer. Lorenzo Zane (Lazzarelli's sponsor) was send to Greece in this time to observe the situation. Mid of 1474 papal troops engaged for local military aims near of Rome (with Lorenzo Zane, with Giulio Cesare da Varano (also Lazzarelli's sponsor), finally also with Montefeltro, possibly as a reaction on the situation, that one didn't know, how to use them otherwise.

...
Montefeltro had the Lazzarelli-manuscript, dedicated to the "duke of Urbino" and he also used other Mantegna Tarocchi motifs in another work in his library.
Yes. The Gubbio makes for fascinating study . . . and, perhaps, presents us with yet another muse:planetary model. For example, Erato (symbol, tambourine) with Venus?

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6601/gubbio35.jpg
Your image does not work. But I spoke of the pictures inside a Marziano Capella edition (that's a book: De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii) about the 7 artes liberalis, partly rather similar to the pictures in the Mantegna Tarocchi, it seems you didn't recognize that ...

Image

http://cipressobianco.blogspot.de/2012/ ... tesco.html

Image

http://www.scuola.com/arte_storia/arte_ ... atica.html

Image

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marziano_Capella

Image

http://www.medievalists.net/2012/07/13/ ... -episcopi/

Image

http://www.italica.rai.it/scheda.php?sc ... ot_minia32
The "high renaissance" made its way with a dance on the vulcano, which erupted with the reformation
and a Sacco di Roma
Image

http://www.italica.rai.it/scheda.php?sc ... ot_minia31

Image

http://www.italica.rai.it/scheda.php?sc ... ot_minia28

....
So, possibly something of an inside joke.
Could it also have planetary associations--viz. Chronico & Cosmico for the hermaphrodite or union of Mercury & Venus? Iliaco/Ganymede for the Moon?
If Chronico stood for "Time" (Yang, heaven) and Cosmico for "Space" (Yin, earth) the usual 3rd category is "Man" or "Soul".
Ganymed ascended to heaven as Joseph ascended to the world of the Pharao.

Macroanthropos - Microanthropos, both something between heaven and earth, one more presenting the complete world, the other more "inside the world"

Atlas was surely a Macroanthropos, Ganymed surely a Micro, and Herakles something between Macro and Mikro, at least more clever than Atlas.

If we look at the Mantegna Tarocchi between 21 and 40 we have in groups ...

3 - 4 - 3 / 3 - 4 - 3

21-23: 3 - Trivium ; language
24-27: 4 - Quadrivium; 3 for math and one (poetry) for uniting language and math
28-30: 3 - big ideas to explain the world: philosophy, astrology, theology
31-33: 3 .... ??????????
34-37: 4 - cardinal virtues
38-40: 3 - theological virtues

In traditional concepts the artes were paired with the 7 virtues. But the artes have 21-27 and virtues 34-40, so this looks like a mirror concept.
31-33 should have their related counter object in 28-30, not in 21-23.

If we look at 11-20 and 41-50, we get then Muses mirroring the spheres, somehow that, what Lazzarelli made ...
Lazzarelli used in his De Gentilium Deorum Imaginibus (ca. 1471) 27 figures, first the Spheres group (Mantegna Tarocchi Nos 50 - 41), which is followed by Musica (Mantegna Tarocchi No 26) and then the first book ends. The second book starts with Poetry (Mantegna Tarocchi No 27), and then the Muses+Apollo-series starts (Mantegna Tarocchi Nos 20 - 11). The both series ("Lazzarelli 1-11 = Spheres plus Musica" AND Lazzarelli 12-22 "Poetry plus Apollo + 9 Muses") seem to mirror each other.
Lazzarelli created a Music-Poetry center (his own poet profession), which took the large objects "Spheres" and "Muses" in perspective.
If something similar was done for the extended Mantegna Tarocchi, we would have the center with ...

...
30 Theology
31 Iliaco = Ganymede = "male lover of Jupiter"
...

Well, we have the recent scandals in the Catholic search and often enough, that this would be really a very old problem.
The Catholic Church had a long tradition to keep such things under the carpet.

So ... what happened between Lorenzo Zane and Lazzarelli really? And what happened between Lorenzo Zane and cardinal Giuliano da Rovere, later pope Julius?
In the scandal scenario of 1475/76 Giuliano fought in a very emotional manner (with tears, as far I remember) for getting Zane made cardinal ... which didn't work out.

Here's the book ...
http://books.google.de/books?id=vb2iu3S ... ne&f=false
... unluckily it doesn't allow some preview, which it earlier did.

Somehow Giuliano and Zane had the project to kill Girolamo, the other favored nephew of pope Sixtus. Two murderers were already chosen. The plot was discovered, discussed and kept in silence. Not much happened, even the murderers kept their job. Somehow Zane had to disappear from Rome. Giuliano went for some time to France.

2 years and a scandal later ...

Image

http://books.google.de/books?id=0hNwZhZ ... 22&f=false

Then Zane worked for Girolamo. He was an useful man in dark matters.
Lazzarelli was finally disappointed by Zane (the assumption, that Lazzarelli was in Rome already in 1473 is contradicted by another statement, that he arrived 1475 in Rome.

Image

http://books.google.de/books?id=7KzoxpR ... ne&f=false

Well ... we have in the center of the Mantegna Tarocchi "30 Theology" and with 31 a figure, which might be understood in the "light of Ganymed".
Whatever this means, somebody made it.

Jesus also ascended to heaven - like Ganymed.

The Mantegna Tarocchi is just a product and was thrown on the market. Once it existed, and once it got far spread success, it couldn't be changed. Whatever sort of "very private messages" it contained.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

59
Hi Huck,

My apologies for the delay in my response. I’m trying to work around both a heavy head cold and a tight schedule, and the brain is not working well.
If we look at the Mantegna Tarocchi between 21 and 40 we have in groups ...
3 - 4 - 3 / 3 - 4 – 3

21-23: 3 - Trivium; language
24-27: 4 - Quadrivium; 3 for math and one (poetry) for uniting language and math
28-30: 3 - big ideas to explain the world: philosophy, astrology, theology
31-33: 3 .... ??????????
34-37: 4 - cardinal virtues
38-40: 3 - theological virtues

In traditional concepts the artes were paired with the 7 virtues. But the artes have 21-27 and virtues 34-40, so this looks like a mirror concept. 31-33 should have their related counter object in 28-30, not in 21-23.
Yes, I noticed this 3-4-3 pattern, but was not sure what to make of it. I’d even hazard that this pattern extends to the decade of the Spheres—viz. inferior planets below the Sun (41-43); Sun, plus upper planets (44-47); upper heavenly realm (48-50). It might even be argued that this 3-4-3 pattern can be seen to some extent in the first decade of the social stations of man. For instance, Marziano Capella in his De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii excluded the mechanical arts (≈ artisans) from his list of the seven arts. Thus, one might suggest a model of 1-3, proletariat class; and 8-10, sovereigns or something such. In terms of the second decade, I find it interesting that, although Astrology (from the third decade) is placed in the ninth slot, Urania, the Muse of Astrology, is placed in the second slot, perhaps, suggesting a 2=9 scenario.

Thank you and warm regards,
Kate

Re: The Wheel of Fortune

60
Kate wrote:Hi Huck,

My apologies for the delay in my response. I’m trying to work around both a heavy head cold and a tight schedule, and the brain is not working well.
My best wishes ...
If we look at the Mantegna Tarocchi between 21 and 40 we have in groups ...
3 - 4 - 3 / 3 - 4 – 3

21-23: 3 - Trivium; language
24-27: 4 - Quadrivium; 3 for math and one (poetry) for uniting language and math
28-30: 3 - big ideas to explain the world: philosophy, astrology, theology
31-33: 3 .... ??????????
34-37: 4 - cardinal virtues
38-40: 3 - theological virtues

In traditional concepts the artes were paired with the 7 virtues. But the artes have 21-27 and virtues 34-40, so this looks like a mirror concept. 31-33 should have their related counter object in 28-30, not in 21-23.
Yes, I noticed this 3-4-3 pattern, but was not sure what to make of it. I’d even hazard that this pattern extends to the decade of the Spheres—viz. inferior planets below the Sun (41-43); Sun, plus upper planets (44-47); upper heavenly realm (48-50). It might even be argued that this 3-4-3 pattern can be seen to some extent in the first decade of the social stations of man. For instance, Marziano Capella in his De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii excluded the mechanical arts (≈ artisans) from his list of the seven arts. Thus, one might suggest a model of 1-3, proletariat class; and 8-10, sovereigns or something such. In terms of the second decade, I find it interesting that, although Astrology (from the third decade) is placed in the ninth slot, Urania, the Muse of Astrology, is placed in the second slot, perhaps, suggesting a 2=9 scenario.
As already said, the used Muses row is from old times, from Fulgentius, so not a creation of the "designing artist". Actually we discovered two others Muses rows, which were used in 15th century, one from Gaffurio and another from Ficino.
http://trionfi.com/0/m/12
http://trionfi.com/0/m/13

Further we recently became aware, that Filelfo used a "half Fulgentius row" in his "Odes" c. 1455.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=976

Generally it seems clear, that Muses became popular in the 1440s in Ferrara, when Leonello decided to have Muses in his studiolo. Leonello didn't live long enough to see it finished, but Borso followed this fashion.
They loved music in Ferrara, especially singing, in Leonello's time, perhaps cause they had any children at the court.
Perhaps many Greeks in 1438 in Ferrara caused the revival of the Muses as a great concept, comparable to old-fashioned Virtues and Artes. The virtues, vices and artes had it with the seven, but Apollo got 9 Muses, likely cause he came 9 days later to the world than his twin-sister Artemis. "9 Muses" lets think of 3-3-3 concept and perhaps of the 27 letters of the Greece alphabet (from which only 24 were used in the alphabet, but 27 were needed for the number system 1-9, 10-90, 100-900).
So, that part doesn't really fit with 3-4-3 ideas, which make sense in 21-40.

Many persons had to learn Greece language around this time, 1438 and later, so many learned these 27 letters, cause this appears at an early level of "learning a language".

********

Generally it might be of interest, who as the first classified "Philosophy-Astrology-Theology" as a trio of "higher education", above the 7 usual Artes. I haven't an answer to the question.

At ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=862
... we discussed a system of c. 1350, made for Bruzio Visconti. I present here a description of Mikeh in post 10:
The Song is divided into two parts, each of which consists of nine stanzas, twenty-one verses each, and a coda (conogedo = discharge). The first part contains the description of Virtue, the second that of Science.

In the initial stanza the author declares his purpose, to describe in words of vulgar rhyme the daughters of Discretion, mother of the virtues, and those of Docility, mother of the Sciences. The second stanza contains an invocation to St. Augustine, from which will be derived the Latin rubric of each stanza of the song. The eight other stanzas are devoted to Theology, Prudence, Fortezza [i.e. Fortitude or Strength], Temperance, Justice, Faith, Hope and Charity. The first part ends with the coda, before which, as a kind of summary of everything, is a family tree.

The second part describes the Sciences: Philosophy, Grammar, dialectic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy or Astrology. It ends, like the first, with a coda in which the author is named (Bartolomeo da Bologna di Bartoli), adding that he painted this volume for Messer Bruzio Visconti.

Each of the pages devoted to Virtue and Science is divided into three parts: on the top is transcribed the definition of the Virtue of Science, extracted from the works of St. Augustine; in the middle is seen expressed in color the representation of the Virtue or Science; the last, on the bottom, has the stanza dedicated to the Virtue or Science itself.

PART ONE - The Seven Virtues.

Folio 1r. - Under the title of the work, with marvelous art, is a scene, in which you see at left, three knights, the first called Vigor, the second Dominus Brutius Vicecomes; and third, with the doctor’s cap, Sensus.[Judgment, Good Sense]. Before the horse of Bruzio are two women, Circumspectio (mantle in red and green, edges blue, green wrap around her head), and Intelligentia [Intellect] (dressed as her neighbor, except the edges), the latter supplied with two large wings, guiding the bit of the horse of the young Visconti in front of whom a man is kneeling, the compositor operis, Bartolomeo di Bartoli. Next to him are found two other women: the first, with the crown on her head, is Discretio, mater or sal Virtutum (white veil, blue robe and green mantle), the second, older, who puts her left hand on the shoulder of the poet, is called Docilitas, mater Scientiarum (red dress with blue sleeves and green cloak, headpiece red and white).The Song is divided into two parts, each of which consists of nine stanzas, twenty-one verses each, and a coda (conogedo = discharge). The first part contains the description of Virtue, the second that of Science.
Theology (30 in Mantegna Tarocchi) is given as the chief of the 7 usual virtues, Philosophy (28 in Mantegna Tarocchi) as the chief of the 7 usual artes. Astronomy/Astrology is still between the 7 Artes, later (Mantegna
Tarocchi) it's elevated to 29, and the free position in the Artes is filled with Poetry (27 in Mantegna Tarocchi).

This model seems to prepare the Mantegna Tarocchi.

Marziano Capella ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martianus_Capella
Martianus was active during the fifth century, composing his one famous book, De nuptiis—fundamental in the history of education, the history of rhetoric and the history of science[3]—after the sack of Rome by Alaric I in 410, which he mentions, but apparently before the conquest of North Africa by the Vandals in 429. As early as the middle of the sixth century, Securus Memor Felix, a professor of rhetoric, received the text in Rome, for his personal subscription at the end of Book I (or Book II in many manuscripts) records that he was working "from most corrupt exemplars".
... had also Astronomy inside the 7 artes.

Image

(inside the Marziano Capella edition, which was owned by Montefeltro)

So this is a rather old and traditional concept, and the poetry-as-art idea might be a new one.
Huck
http://trionfi.com