I read through the last few pages and don't see a cogent trajectory for this mass of research as it relates to tarot in any manner whatsoever, and certainly there is still not a scrap of evidence pointing to tarot before 1440. Is this all still related to the hypothesis that Brunelleschi, strictly brought in for work on a fortress or duomo, saw Marziano's deck in Milan and that inspired him to come up with the ur-tarot in Florence? Anyone care to concisely state the Brunelleschi(-Alberti?) theory as it now stands?mikeh wrote: 07 Jun 2023, 00:43 ... Then we have Vasari in vol. III saying "before 1438" for Brunelleschi's return to Milan, to work for Visconti and the duomo. But that might just be the 1430 trip. In 1438 he went to Rimini, Saalman says. Before that, there was the installation of the tiburia in Florence, which I'd think would restrict Brunelleschi's trips.
Late 1439 seems to me rather late for proposing the tarot. But none of these dates for Milan (unlike Mantua, Ferrara, and Rimini) are very secure.
THE BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING THE BRUNELLESCHI HYPOTHESIS: NO TIME FOR A TRIFLING CARD PROJECT 1439-1440
Most importantly, the Duomo's lantern and the exedra (built 1439–1445) occupied most of the remainder of Brunelleschi's life, covered in minute detail in Howard Saalman's Filippo Brunelleschi: The Cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore, 1980 and his Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings. 1993/2010.
...the basic question about Brunellesci’s 1439 model design for the tribune morte over the polygonal piers under the drum and cupola: why did he make them round, why were they in better accord with the round form than with the polygonal (‘quella che seguita glianghoj’? All we know about the history of the cathedral project makes it clear that a design for the pier terminations was part of the great cathedral model of 1367 and from the context of the 1439 decision by the opera it is equally certain that the original design of the tribune morte was, in fact, polygonal, substantially resembling the tile-covered vaults of the adjoining octagon arms.
In these same years Brunelleschi, in whose architectural thinking the issue of visibility and compressibility was a fundamental competent of the larger goals of simplicity, clarity and homogeneity, was consistently involved in decisions regarding the visibility of his building project at a distance. Consider in this context the creation of a piazza in front of the new church of San Lorenzo (Chapter IV, 2), his river piazza project for Santo Spirito (Chapter X, 3), the campaccio of the Scolari Oratory (Chapter VIII, 4), the special character of his Sala Nuova design of the Parte Guelfa (Chapter VI). (1993: 411)
So in 1439 the literal culmination of the Duomo's dome - the lantern and its support structure atop the dome - was being treated in a revolutionary manner by Brunelleschi in a way that deviated from the original conception and manner just re-approved by the Cathedral Works in 1439; that problem demanded his utmost attention, as did the ultimate design of the lantern (which ultimately went to Michelozzo). On top of that are the four other design projects he "was consistently involved in decisions" of each.
"Oh, by the way, can you cram in the design of 22 [14 to my mind at this time] subjects for a novel card-playing game?"
The Duomo opera, Cosimo ("finish S. Lorenzo!), the Parte Guelfa would all have been apoplectic. The hypothesis is beyond straining the bounds of credulity.
Phaeded