Translation of Marziano da Tortona, biographic material

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Storia ed arte nel Tortonese
by Gabotto, Ferdinando, 1866-1918; Sant'Ambrogio, Diego; Poggi, Vittorio, 1833-1914; Cereti, P. E. (Pio Evasio)
Publication date 1905

Page 63
MARZIANO DA TORTONA
LETTERATO E MINIATORE DEL RINASCIMENTO
( Conferenza)
The Italian Renaissance which had such talented illustrators as regards Tuscany and the finitime regions, does not present itself in such a clear light as regards Lombardy, although the attitudes and energy that that marvelous movement of the human spirit assumed there are not been up here less fruitful than extraordinary men and marvelous works.
That luxuriant, that impatient individualism that continually flames and shines in the Tuscan municipalities and more in the Florentine republic, that selfish feeling from which man draws the awareness of his power and the joy of affirming it in his works, that fever, that will. mourning to train, to force, to tend both the body and the intellect at the same time, that search for a higher human expression, for a vaster equilibrium, for a more essential wholeness, all that is to be Tuscany, like the brilliance of a clear even starry sky, gathers in Lombardy in a solitary star shining within a silent sky.
There was the power of a principality which, squeezed by three republics, was preparing for Italy the advent of a

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monarchy and work raged mute, but feverish, around the Visconti, the most wonderful race of monsters that appeared to hold and dominate and create a great homeland, drawing it five hundred years earlier from the political chaos, bloody perhaps, but one and powerful . When the history of the Lordship of the Visconti and Sforza is presented in the bare intertwining of the singular forces that generated it and the lives of the men who constituted its essential greatness will be collected, it will be possible to know what notable place Marziano da Tortona had as a man of letters. , as an artist, as a diplomat, as a philosopher, as an architect of civilization.
There are not a few titles that Marziano da T. boasts to the attention of scholars, regarding posterity but if we ask for which of them especially he has obtained sympathy and thanks from our people, what are the valid passports that have already earned him a free path through such a long age, we must agree that there are only two, but both of them such that they cannot but deserve interest among a people like ours par excellence artist and poet.
In the name of Dante, supreme father of today's Italy and for that gentle art of Oderisi
that aluminare is called in Parisi, he is therefore among us today.
Having brought the sacred word of Alighieri into the soul of the prince whose destiny perhaps held the most superb of crowns, having composed our serene myths in astonishment when the classical spirit once again became the determining force of the reborn civilization , here are the titles of his fame.
And it is good to immediately give the necessary emphasis to this, that although the times, the places and above all the people among
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monarchy and work was mute, but feverish, around the Visconti, who nevertheless worked to reach us little were worth the prayers, the dictations, the ambascierie, but with his Dante and his tarot deck he will sit wherever a guest gentle; and let her see in this the proper and immanent sign of our creative race, with which no title remains more valid than that which comes to man from having lavished his strength in works of beauty.
The writers who speak of our citizen are many. Peignot, Singer, 1 'Ottley, Lacroix, Boiteau, Menestrier, Daniel, Bettinelli, Garzoni, Tiraboschi, Cigognara, Giulini, Merlin, d'Adda, Campori, Mongeri and still others that I omit. All, however, do nothing but repeat with various comments the brief mention that Decembrio gave in the elegant Latin of his life by Filippo Maria Visconti. (1)
It was therefore known that he was held dear to the Visconti court, which exercised a high magisterium of letters there, who worked splendid minis there. More light now comes from the speech composed on the occasion of his death by the well-known humanist Gasperino da Bergamo, a speech that has remained unpublished and almost unknown until now. (2)
Two copies of this very important document for us were reported. (3) The soul in a code from the municipal library of Bergamo, the other in another code from the Angelica library in Rome. The courtesy of two of our partners, Lieutenant Luigi Barenghi and Comm. Vittorio Salice allowed me to have a copy of the two tests and to collate them. (4)

(1) See Muratori R. 1. S. Tomo XX - P. C. Decémbrius - F. M. Vicecomitis Med. ducis ter di vita.
(2) The Tiraboschi in VI vol. of the History of lett. it. he had given him a nod.
(3) V. A. S. L. Die. 1886, p. 828.
(4) See T appendix

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However, before weaving into a single canvas what comes from different authors, it is good to examine its reliability.
Pier Candido Decembrio, the one who, as we have said, gave the well-known signs of Martian, was born in Vigevano in 1390 and in 1430 he was already at the court of Filippo Maria Visconti, where he held, like our Martian, a post of secretary. He was therefore, although younger, a contemporary of him, he lived in the same places, in the same office and remembered in his work more diligent than he, what was the biography of the princes he served. The information that he provides can therefore be considered precisely as that of an eyewitness and due to its weight, let's agree, it could not be greater if we remember that Decembrio was a man adorned with various doctrines, with an educated taste, able to appreciate the mind and work of the men he knew.
Gasperino da Bergamo known as Barzizza, from the village where the author of the funeral oration already mentioned was born, he was truly a contemporary of Marziano. Student in Pavia in 1392 and then professor; Professor at Padua of rhetoric and moral philosophy and there teacher to Leon Battista Alberti, we find him later (1) professor of eloquence in Milan on the salaries of Filippo Maria and according to all probability also in relation to the scholar Tortonese, with whom he must have shared so many memories and to whom it seems to have hardly survived. His testimony must therefore be precious to us both for the biographical details, which addressed as they were to the very citizens of the deceased could not

(1) Tiraboschi [S. L. L] affirms it in Milan in 1418, Sabbadini would deduce from a letter that he did not leave Padua before 1422.

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that to be very exact, both for the appreciation and even without the humanistic superlatives, are nevertheless very honorable.
To these two authors must be added the testimony of the archive papers that are provided to us by the work of Osio (1) on the diplomatic documents taken from the Milanese arguments and which confirm, as we will see later, the work of Marziano in the chancellery ducal.
Let us therefore begin to ask ourselves something about his birth which certainly took place on the decline of the fourteenth century. That Marziano was born in Tortona would seem no doubt given that Decembrio explicitly calls him Tortonensls and Barzizza addresses his prayer to the Tortonese, as to his fellow citizens. Even his name confirms this origin because in homage to the patron saint of the city the Tortonese have always provided a fair contingent of Martians to which they also added a small group of Martians, denominations, both Fnnà and the other, very rare outside our diocese. However, in a document published by Osio where he appears as a witness there is explicitly indicated as spectalabilis et nobilis vir dominus Martianm de Sanato Aloxio, secretnrius and this indication allows us to return to a small Tortona land, whose agile towers soar over our rolling hills, an illustration of it. (2)
If he was born in the nearby castle of Sant 'Alosio, however, he did not belong to the illustrious Rampini family (3).

[1] Osio: Diplomatic documents taken from the Milanese archives, Milan 1864-72.
[2] Sant 1 Alosio, a fraction of the municipality of Castellatila, a few kilometers from T. is also noteworthy today for the two slender feudal towers which rise within a narrow central enclosure offering an uncommon example of medieval fortification .
[3] V. nel Montemerlo [History of T.J the composition of the Rampini family at that time

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another from the aforementioned documents, jointly named Marziano and Urbano di S. Alosio, linking the Martian almost in the parental to the well-known Tortonese captain of the noble Rampini family of which together with his brother Enrico, bishop of Tortona, archbishop of Milan and then cardinal he had to render so clear fame.
However, this commonality of indication would seem to mean that if he did not belong to the Rampini family he was nevertheless familiar with them and it is probable that from those powerful lords he had valid support to adorn the promising genius with the highest studies.
As far as Martiano is concerned, we do not find mention of the paternity, which very often appears in the documents of the time, at least in the few we know, and we can therefore believe with Ferrano (1) that he was of humble birth and that for his merits alone has been able to rise to the positions it reached.
At the age of sixteen he had completed his secondary studies in Tortona, far surpassing all his fellow disciples and showing that he possessed a truly superior ingenuity. To continue it was necessary to leave Tortona and this was a sacrifice to which only the great love of knowledge could decide our Martian in love as he was with the city of him that was already for the whole life of everything dearer. From Tortona he then moved on to the study of nearby Pavia flourishing at the time for the care that the Viscontis dedicated to it.
4 Although Tortonese professors held a chair there (I remember Guglielmo Doglia di Pontecurone to those of the professor of medicine), our students

[1] See the commentary on the letter on p, 75 in the Vol. Li dell'Osio.

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they shone there for their absence, perhaps for not liking the stay among a citizenry that had been too much in their enemy Aera. (1)
After all, our Martian also stayed there for two years, to pass the eoriveritus artium and then move on to the most celebrated studio in Padua, where perhaps the presence of another fellow citizen, Guglielmo da Tortona, professor of philosophy, invited him. From Padua he passed to Bologna (2) and from Bologna to Florence, the divine seat of graces, where the spirits of Dante's world still shook.
Even if Barzizza did not assure us of his stay in the radiating center of the Renaissance, he would make us suppose the delicate and aristocratic art of Martian's minio exercised for pleasure, an art which, as is known, unlike the other major ones, he had in Florence its closed center of teaching (3).
Since that of Florence is remembered as the last of the studies he attended, it would seem that there crowned his discipline with a degree and that the republic itself was called with a substantial check to the

(1) V. Z. Volta - I) 3L c / academic radius conferred in the general study of Pavia. (A. S. L. 1890) - He remembers graduates from Voghera, Alessandria, Pontecurone, Gastelnuovo, Bobbio but from Tortona only a Francesco in 1414 and a Giovanni de Richo in 1423. Now, given the prosperity of the city at that time, it cannot be admitted that it gave a university contingent so limited. T. then had about 40,000 inhabitants, something like a third of the population of Milan, ten times that of Turin, four times that of Paris and as much as that of London, accepting the data of G. Cantù in A. S. L. June 1879 p. 226.
(2) Padua and Bologna were truly the most famous universities in Italy, and for the second it could be said of Europe, since it counted then, which was already declining, it. 000 students from every nation. The ambition of studies was so widespread that even the smaller cities established them, so Lodi, Novara etc. Tortona also had renowned professorships in the Gonvento della Trinità.
(3) V, Muntz - Italian Art in the 15th century - p. 686.

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sign of philosophy, returning as a teacher in that same school which he left as a disciple, an honor recently renewed by another nation, in another study to another illustrious Tortonese, to Lorenzo Perosi. This supposition, however, was not confirmed by the news, which Gherardi offers in his work on the statutes of the Florentine university and study, and it remains uncertain in which of the aforementioned famous studies Martian professed (1).
His Dantesque culture and masterful knowledge of the Comedy (not yet divine at the time) must also be essentially attributed to his stay in Florence, since as early as 1373 Giovanni Boccaccio had been called to read the poem in the Florentine studio and Filippo Vilani, Giovanni Malpaghini, Giovanni da Prato, Lorenzo da Pisa, Francesco Filelfo, fra Girolamo and fra Domenico di Giovanni were then acceded to him.
Serious misadventures and travails subsequently troubled the life of Marziano, but Barzizza reluctantly touches it and hastens to remind us of it as taken to the highest honors by Gregory XII, the Roman pontiff.
Here he is therefore between 1406 and 1409 at the court of Rome with Christianity in full schism and three popes who anathemased and excommunicated each other. The innumerable negotiations which then took place both with the antipopes and with the various potentates of Europe must have been for Martian, as well as an unsurpassed political training, a field also and of notable success. he held, as long as he held, in conspicuous positions.
This pontiff deposed by the council of Pisa

(1J The research was done by the illustrious Prof. Guido Mazzoni of the Royal High School of Higher Studies, to whom I thank.

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is replaced, as is known, Alexander V, former archbishop of Milan and it is probable that the provenance of the new pope was not unrelated to the call of Marziano to the Visconti court, where if he really arrived in 1409 to take you with Giovanni Tiene the he institution of Filippo Maria, would have found the prince already seventeen years old and therefore at an age well suited to the higher teaching that he had to impart.
Really formidable destinies hovered over the swarthy and swift young man, now also orphan of his mother (1). Just as the Italian culture began to be invested by the spirit of Rome, so politics turned with different arts, with different ideals to unity and to comple it in the end, no one seemed expected more than this prince, from Carmagnola to Brunellesco, surrounded by extraordinary men do not really learn to the highest feat (2). His father Gian Galeazzo, the prince of immeasurable intentions, the founder of the Duomo and the Certosa, had already indicated him as worthy of succeeding him in preference to his eldest son Giovanni Maria, whose tragic end must, moreover, suddenly call him to a wider lordship.
Throwing Dante's word into this young heart, arousing its visions, was truly the greatest fortune that an Italian master could have in those days. How he knew how to capture the soul of the prince, he proves it and the affection with which Filippo Maria always surrounded him and having always kept him among his close advisors; how he bent him to feelings of art is shown by the satisfaction that Filippo Maria placed in the poem, the admiration

(1) Caterina Visconti wife of G. Galeazzo, she died on October 17, 1404.
(2) The political failure of F. M. always veiled the appreciation of the royalty of this prince. This broke his designs, rather than his intellectual ineptitude it was essentially his precocious physical breakdown.

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for Livio and for the eloquence in which he succeeded of remarkable valor.
Dante's lectures must have been the highest part of his teaching and the one which especially earned him the sympathies of the court. Great was then the interest in the work of the Florentine poet in Italy, in his universities, in the courts. Although since the mid-fourteenth century the spread of the Comedy was very great and Dante's codices adorned all Italian bookshops in some respects, nevertheless its reading and commentary did not yet make it a special course of the main institution. fishing. Marziano was Dante's first commentator at the court of Milan (l) and his lessons were probably followed frequently by the court as well, not only for the great diligence he employed there, but for the singular attraction that must have come to them from their studies. , from the wanderings, from the doctrine, from the offices of this man whom the restless and ardent spirit of rebirth had prompted to follow in large part in the footsteps of the fugitive Ghibelline. In the castle of Pavia where Filippo Maria spent his youth, in that famous bookshop, a guest of Petrarch, Marziano gathered pleasant elements to his love for the divine poet, since Bernabò Visconti, who kept a very precious example of the Comedy that he had copied and

(1) Audicit et Martianum Devlhonensem stimma attcntione ex.plicantem vulgares libros quos Dantis appcllaut. (Decembrkv The cult of Dante at the court of Milan continued also under the Sforza and Guiniforte Barzizza, son of Gaspare, commented on the Comedy to the nephews of F. M. Il chiar. Novati, to whom I express thanks for the kind help given to me, opportunely points out that if Martiano remains the first of the commentators of which there is any certainty for the court of Milan, it is however not admissible that a cultured prince such as Gian Galeazzo did not have Dante readers at his court since the second half of the fourteenth century, given the great diffusion that the poem had already at that time.

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comment, had he entered the ducal library at the time we are talking about, he would have found no less than six Dante manuscripts of the most diligent workmanship (\).
Exhausted that Martiano had his task as tutor, he was held at court as secretary. Diplomatic writers gave a special phsonomy to the Italian chancelleries of that time. Like Coluccio Salutati first secretary of Nicola V and then a famous Florentine chancellor, so Marziano from the date of Gregory XII passed to the Visconti secretariat. And what importance was given to such men then and what skill they knew how to explain to you, is proved by the saying of Gian Galeazzo: A letter from Coluccio, the pious fear of a thousand lands.
At the ducal secretariat, Marziano must have had a special and I would say privileged position. As tutor to the prince, as a man of high doctrine he was more of an intimate adviser than a director of urlici; and what the Bergamo humanist assures us would be confirmed by the scarcity of chancery documents published up to now with his name.
The first, in chronological order, is published in the work of C. Morbio: History of the Italian Municipalities, Vol. VI Visconti - Sforzesco Code at No. LXXI. And 1 a letter from the duke addressed to the vicar, to the twelve provisions and to the mayors of the Municipality of Milan to remove the abuse of exemptions from taxes or duties claimed by several communities of the Duchy. It bears the date of March 8 Die. 1418. Another document, also published by Morbio, given in Milan on August 19, 1412 and containing a proscription note could actually be preceded by this. However, it is signed Martinianus signature that in order to have no other evidence I think it should be read Martianus.

(1) V. Inventory of the Visconti bookshop in Pavia reigned by F. M. Mazzatinti. Italian codes in the Bib. Naz. Paris'.

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The second, reported with some variations from both the Morbio and Osio collections, is given in Monza on 21 February 1419 and contains the announcement to the power of Milan of peace concluded by Duke Filippo Maria with the old Pandolfo dei Malatesti, lord of Brescia and Bergamo under arbitration by Pope Martin V, ratified by the ducal chancellery on 30 January 1419.
The signature that Marziano affixed to this document makes us believe that he had been employed in the negotiations, as we know very long, that led the two implacable enemies to this peace, no less fictitious than the rest of the one they had agreed in 1415. L Marziano's work in these negotiations, however, does not fail without a reason when it is remembered that the ancient secretary of Gregory XII had to be indicated to deal with the Malatesta, who in their Rimini had hosted that deposed pope for a long time, and of whom they always remained ardent supporters.
The 3rd document published as those that follow, by Osio, is given in Milan on August 28, 1419 and is entirely of internal order concerning provisions aimed at favoring the transport of cereals from Castel - Seprio to Milan.
The 4th is given to Abbiategrasso on November 19th 1421 and bears a ratification made by the duke of the agreement stipulated with some Genoese nobles for the recovery of the fortresses of Genoa occupied by Tomaso Campo Fregoso. The agreement had been made in Genoa on November 14 in the presence of Carmagnola, Count of Castelnuovo Tor- tonese delegate to the duke, and of the necessary witnesses including Marziano and Urbano di Sant'Alosio. (1)
II 5. ° is given in Milan on August 26, 1422 and brings

(1) Urbanus of S. Alosio is in another document of the Osiana collection more specifically named: Urbanus de Sondo Arosio filiti * quondam d. Francisci porte Nove parodile Sancti Silvestì-is.

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the good neighborly agreement concluded between the Duke and the Vallesani, where Giovanni d'Arezzo, Martiano di Sanf Alosio, Corrado Vimercate and Tonino Rizio, secretaries, were noted, in addition to Carmagnola and Antonio de Bossi as councilors. It is remarkable here that while the indication of paternity was placed for all the nominees, for Marziano it was omitted. Beyond this date there is no longer any mention of him in the documents examined although the designation of the aforementioned colleagues of him occurs frequently, since the presence of the ducal secretaries is usual, as witnesses, in the stipulation of diplomatic acts.
Marziano's work at the ducal chancellery will certainly receive new light from the publication that is gradually being completed from the Viscontee papers. Undertaking research aimed exclusively at this purpose would be an absolutely disproportionate effort due to the sad events to which the ducal archive was subjected, burned, lost, removed in the events that took place from the death of Philip Maria to the advent of Charles V .
The inventory of the Sforzesco archive kept in the National Library of Paris contains nothing that refers to Marziano, although often the name of another Tortonese, by Antonio Guidobono, is mentioned, this one appears for a different respect no less worthy of study and research ( 1).
It should be noted, however, that in this inventory nothing personal dates back to 1433 and that according to all likelihood Marziano was, at that time, already dead.
In any case, if the activity of our citizen appears limited in the field of cancelleres, we know that it expanded into something much more flowery and laughing. Among the most talented lovers of the art of lead in Lombardy, a notable place was always recognized to Marziano. (2) He was celebrated from the Decembrio special.

(1) V. Mazzatinti. Inventory of the papers of the Sforzesco Archive A. S. L. 1883 and 1885.
(2) V, the Art of Minio in the Duchy of Milan. A. S. L. September 1885 p. 546.

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mind for a deck of tarot cards made for his lord, very fond of card games, which were then a novelty of fashion and of which he was probably, better than a brutal handler, an intelligent collector (1). If this were not the case, the extraordinary sum of 1500 gold ducats (17-18 thousand lire) (2) paid by the duke to our author would remain inexplicable. The high price indicated and the description of the figurative work handed down by Decembrio persuade it to be a true heirloom, where patience, skill, taste and doctrine had been immeasurably lavished for the satisfaction of a noble prince who was not insensitive to nice.
There are many pages that were written and published on this detail of Martian's life, but few to tell the truth are fertile with some conclusions. He always veiled the fundamental terror of identifying the series of cards described by Decembrio with a tarot game now owned by the Visconti house of Mo- drone, which, however valuable, could in no way be identified with the one described by the Decembrio

Corrupted footnotes, compare original
(1) Alcuna volta zugava a le carte de triumphi. Et di questo giocho molto si delectoe per modo che comparoe uno paro di carte da triumphi compite mille et cinque cento ducati. Di questo maximamente auctore et casone Martinno da Terdona suo secretario, il quale cum meraviglioso inzegno et soma industria compite questo giocho de carte cum le figure et imagine de li dei et cum le figure de li animali et de li ocelli che gli sum sottoposti.
[Campori 1874:5 note (1); cf. Dummett 1980:82, and footnote 48]
Preliminary translation (by Ross Gregory Caldwell)
He sometimes played at triumph cards. And in this game he took so much delight that he paid for one finished pack of triumph cards one thousand and five hundred ducats. Of this the foremost author and (casone) was Marziano da Tortona his secretary, who with marvellous ingenuity and greatest industry finished this deck of cards with the figures and images of the gods and with the figures of animals and birds which he placed under them. (Decembrio o. e. Cap. LXI.
Here is the translation from a contemporary Ferrara pseudonym called Polismagna: Sometimes sugava a le carte de triumphi. And he takes great delight in this game in the way that he compares a set of cards from triumphs for a thousand and five hundred ducats. Martianno de Terdona secretes this macsimamente author and casone, who with marvelous intelligence and supreme industry compiles this game of the cards with the figures and images of the gods and cum the figures of the animals and the occelli that he was subjected to - ( Campori The playing cards painted for the Este family in the 15th century p. 6;
[2] I calculate the florin or duchy or zecchino or gold shield (eh "is all one) on the table of Formentini, I don't know how Muntz values ​​160 ducats 8000 lire.

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in that they were represented with marvelous art and with supreme skill (in the words of the historian) the images of the gods and the figures of animals and birds and none of the illuminated tarots known today, nor those owned by the Visconti, respond to these precise data. (1) Moreover, this does not exclude that these are also the work of Marziano, all the more so if it is true that the signature Marianus was still decipherable in a card, as asserted by Cattaneo in the * description which he transmitted to Cicognara (2). The considerations relating to the price paid by the duke, which some wished to express by examining the cards of the Visconti family, are therefore devoid of any basis.
That sum, whatever the merit to be attributed to the work of our citizen, remains and will remain surprising for an age when 2000 florins were the prerogative of a prince and 120 the salary of a university professor, (3) but the surprise could perhaps lessen if you want to follow me in some considerations concerning the size, the workmanship, the genre and the invention of the work.
When we say a deck of tarot cards we cannot exclude the idea of ​​a small thing, it is this idea, which persists, attracts our appreciation. An elegant and rich game of tarot cards at the beginning of the 14th century could have been a collection of seventy-eight parchments of considerable proportions, even more than twenty centimeters high, which is to say

(1) In the phase of January c. to. of Burlington Magazine, Count Emiliano di Parravieino refers to these tarots as a work by Martiano, and so T Emporium 'of February c. to.
(2) V. L. Gicognora. Memories pertaining to the history of football. Prato 1831 and the appendix.
(3) In a somewhat later time Leonardo da Vinci at the service of Lodovico il Moro had 500 florins a year, and the value of the florin had also dropped.

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as a whole a few square meters of miniature.
The miniature was then the aristocratic art par excellence, nourished by artistic princes and munificent factories, it represented the most expensive aesthetic delight and therefore reserved for the few who could and knew how to spend. It was also a rare art in which the best craftsmen were literally disputed by the clients, so the beautiful miniatures were very expensive. Count Leonello Dorso paid the painter Francesco de Rossi and the master writer Taddeo Crivelli in 1375 for the copying and painting of a bible a price that we can consider equal to that paid to Martiano for his papers (1).
The cards of triumphs, as it was then said, were also a novelty of fashion in those days. Although they were already well known for some time, nevertheless it was at that time that their use began to spread in high society and in the Italian courts. But just as the life of rebirth was entirely dominated by aesthetic thought, as beauty flowed into it in an overflowing vein, so we see it, with inexhaustible richness, draw on even the humblest manifestations of life, for which, from the State to the tarot cards, in that epoch everything becomes a work of art. (2)
Making the common object a work of art was then the immanent problem and a new and happy solution was the most sought-after pleasure that a sumptuous prince could give himself.

(1) 1375 ducats V. C. Peignot. Essai sur l'histoire du par- min, Paris 1812.
The two bibles of the Biblioteca Naz. of Paris were estimated by Camus Puna with 5152 watercolors 62,000 fr. and the other with 3000 miniatures, 40,000 but certainly cost much more. Vasari recalls the minio works paid for several hundred ducats.
(2) V. Burchkardt. 11 Renaissance in Italy.

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It is enough now to recall the invention of subjects, which Marziano had painted to understand that it was precisely one of these new and bizarre solutions. The miniature in Lombardy at the beginning of the 15th century was still completely ruled by the spirit of the Middle Ages; a collection of Lombard miniatures in the national library of Paris demonstrates how slowly the classical spirit spread there, even later, what resistance it found where art, which we call a word empty of all meaning, gothic ( 1) affirmed itself with the gigantic cathedral. This notion offers the measure of the value in which the work of Martian must have been held, which was all an expression of the new art, a figurative invention never seen before, an illustration of the Greek-Latin myths collected in works of supreme finesse, performed by an exquisite artist educated by Florence and Rome, by a scholar and a philosopher familiar to Aristotle. In this respect he has a place in the small group of Leonardo's precursors.
In this work, we can be sure, the character of art had completely suppressed the character of use; the result was much more than a game of tarot cards, but a splendid collection of miniatures varied sime, a magnificent allegorical manual to which an artist 's bizarre, to make them more singular, had wanted to give the form of a futile product of industry. As certain designer fans find a place today on the walls of the living rooms, those furori papers certainly deposited as a precious curiosity in Filippo's caskets

[1] Couldn't we say Nordic-Romansh given that the barbarians did not import anything into the Roman world and that the Middle Ages only developed elements already diffused by classical civilization? It goes without saying that both the hanging arches and the pointed arch were already perfectly known and widely used by the Romans, although they did not appear in the decoration.

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Maria, from where some French of Louis XII will not have failed to draw them, so that they too could share with so many other treasures the fortune of crossing the Alps.
Finally, it should be noted that Marziano did not work alone on this work; Decembrio, saying it auctor et im- primis, makes us understand that he had kept other artists under him, using them in secondary works to hasten the completion of a work of his very long nature.
But whatever the value of these considerations may be, the fact remains that Martiano touches and will perhaps forever remain the world record in the prices of playing cards, and this due to the fact that he has composed with the modest title of playing cards , one of the most superb mini collections, both in concept and execution.
If the precious work of which we have now largely touched remains unknown, we must not, however, find it untraceable, and it is not unlikely that sooner or later in England or in France, better than among us, it will come back to light. diligent examination of the Lombard minis of the early fifteenth century, when the culture and character of the artist is taken into account, could give some fruit and induce to vary some of the many arbitrary attributions, which are made of anonymous works to well-known illuminators accumulating on a few you name a huge material.
Morigeri (2) seemed to recognize works by Martiano da Tortona in a codex of the National Library

(1) As we know, the dispersion of the Visconti-Sforzeschi papers and codices occupies almost 5th Europe.
(2) V. Morigeri. The art of minio in the Duchy of Milan from the 13th to the 14th century - A. S. L. - 1885 - It is strange that this author gives the surname of Visconti to the Martiano, not only in the text, where he could explain how.

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of Paris libellus feudorum reformatus dedicated to Philip Maria, however, based solely on the figurative character of the well-known Visconti cards, which, in addition to being little, could also be false. There are also libraries in Milan, such as Melzi, Trivulzio, and others, where the surprise of finding authentic works by our citizen would be far from being excluded.
What is certain is that the absolute lack of mimes that can be attributed with certainty to Marziano, has persuaded someone to conceive, (to the clarification Ing. Eugenio Motta, p. E. Not to mention Campori) that Marziano has never been an illuminator or at least that the illuminator was not the secretary. But to support a similar thesis it is even necessary to deny the Decembrio and suddenly cancel what he wanted to commit to history, since he says that the author of the tarot was Martian, but not just any Martian, he de- signs and specifies precisely for what was secretary, ejus secretarius.
It is observed, however, that Barzizza in the February oration does not explicitly assert that he was a minor, because in fact he was not a professional, but he says and repeats that he was very well versed in the fine arts, bonarum artium eruditissùnus, as it should be said of a amateur who, although excellent, did not profess the art. The fact that he did not mention the tarot cards in the funeral speech shows that he had more sense of the opportunity than others would have already wished.
The miniature, as I have already said, was not a popular art, and the merits that it could derive from it were certainly not the most appreciable by the people to whom the! speech is addressed. Finally, it should be noted that the art of red lead was considered a secondary art,

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even more so by those who are not endowed with a special taste. Thus we explain how in that same century it could have been called even vile art, none other than by a pectoral commentator of Dante (piaf was our Piedmontese Stefano Talice da Riealone (1). add that in various authors it is reported the year in which Filippo Maria bought them, namely 1430. I) 'I did not search for the news of this date, but I believe it erroneous for the reason that at that time Martian must have already been from several years buried.
Between serene art and dark politics he remained at court until the end of his old age and, alas, we can say that he was a failed disciple. His death remains to us as the obscure birth, but since Barzizza makes us suppose it is not much later than that of Gregory XII, so we must place it not very far from 1417, but on the other hand not before 26 Ag. 1422 in which still appears as witnesses in a document already referred to. In any case, he is not exorbitant from the beginning of 1430, in which his obituary from Bergamo would have followed him too.
What loss was his for Tortona, for the humble and for the greatest, for all his fellow citizens, we can understand the expressions of Barzizza which cannot be denied a certain truthfulness. He was the father of all, the man to whom everyone resorted without finding a rebound, who availed himself of his extremely influential position to benefit and favor the citizenship to which he felt so much attached affection.
Let us leave him in the light of this town virtue, virtue of love and goodness so recommendable to

[1] V. The Divine Comedy with the commentary by Talice - Purg. Canto XI

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today in which the concept of collaboration and social harmony seems to be definitively excluded from this virtue of love and goodness which, harmonizing the effort of all classes, generated the greatness of our municipalities and gave Italy the glory of be the first to open up the ways of modern civilization.
Last edited by Huck on 28 Jul 2022, 20:54, edited 1 time in total.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Translation of Marziano da Tortona, biographic material (2)

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APPENDIX

Here we give the funeral oration of Marziano written by Gasperino da Bergamo. In the Code of the Municipal Library of Bergamo (T. V. 20 p. 2G) which is a 1785 copy of the 15th century code, it is very incorrect.
Here we come to the lesson of the code of the Bible. Angelica di Roma (Manoscritti fondo antico N. 1139 Carte 15). while marking the beginning of the principal variant of the bergamasche: Funeral oration. Issued on the death of a certain Doctor. 1 How much loss our 2 republic received 3 by the death of the most illustrious 4 martial, illustrious and distinguished men, and you, the most beloved citizens of the country, partly through tears and partly through your silent sorrow, I can easily understand. Indeed, we have lost a man who was neither wiser nor better, either in our memory or in the memory of our fathers. We have lost the father of the city, the protector of the city. We have lost a man most learned in all the good arts and most honorable disciplines. Finally, we have lost a man in whom there was the highest humanity, singular justice, supreme fortitude of mind, admirable constancy, supreme council, and a kind of divine wisdom in providing for the greatest things. Who mourns his death? Who can comfort the public 1 meritorious enough? What man can we find in our city to compare with him? When shall it be permitted for us, or for our posterity, to expect something like this? 0 our city is mournful and desolate due to the death of such a man. 0 the people of Terdon, blessed by the best parent! 0 our countrymen, the republic has been robbed of its greatest ornament! The day would fail me, Most High Fathers, if I wanted to pursue the inconvenient speech of our city. But since human accidents are not soothed by tears or secret sorrow, but by virtue and control of the mind, it is not so much our loss that is to be mourned by us as the common condition of the nature of all mortals. For although he was such in all kinds of virtue and learning, that there is no one among us who would not wish to be immortal if it were possible, yet with the wise

1 Oratio Gasparini Pergamensis at the funeral of D. Marciani
2 vestra, tinted the speech in the berg code. it's in the second person
3 detrimentum
4 viri D. public
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there is a duty, and even if it is possible, I want you all to pray that you may prefer his death to the brave three times, so that he may not love us alone more than he himself whom we mourn.
For he who loves himself, not his friend, but himself, is gravely afflicted, as they say, because if nothing bad could happen to him in death, if all his life had been led most honorably to the end, if he had obtained the praise of valor and wisdom from the judgment of the wisest men, so that his fame was equal with I think it is much more to be rejoiced that our country should have had such a man than to be sorry for his loss. For what is the use of desiring a free and wise name, if he has not first attained it in life; who, when he was six and ten years old, was already far superior in the first studies of letters to all his equals, and was inflamed with so much love of wisdom, that after leaving the country of which he was most desirous, he transferred himself to Papias, where in that city of all the most honorable men there was at that time the greatest struggle and the greatest erudition; It was to him that the doctrine and wisdom he had had, whence he migrated from Patavium, Patavius, Bononia, Bononia, Florence. In these studies he conducted himself so admirably that, with the praise of his genius, which was most divine in him, he excelled the rest, yet he was considered the most learned in philosophy and all the liberal arts. Having obtained his own doctorate, with the approval of the greatest of all pafcruin recruiters, he was taken up for the public teaching of philosophy, and was given a great prize from the public treasury. I am silent as to what later labors he persevered in, through how many perils he was engaged in, until he reached the supreme Pontiff Gregory, who was late. having attained to the greatest honors with him, as long as he lived in the papacy 1 he was finished. What is his 2 approach to the most illustrious prince and the most serene leader of Milan, I will mention our most gracious lord, with whom, as we all know, he could do as much with honor and grace as his health allowed him, and whose incredible wisdom in deliberating and prudence in saying sentences in the senate. The writing fathers marveled, some calling him Cato, others calling him Gaius Leliura. That 4 in the judgment of our prince I will say of this truth, when he would listen very attentively to the wisest discussions of him, whenever he was relieved for a little while from the gravest cares of the kingdom, and he would gladly confer with him on the fence about his dark affairs, and he would also be privy to all the secrets of his people
1 who advanced a long time - 2 for 3 others - 4 what.

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would like. For he was at once the most learned of all the other arts, with the study of poetry, and his extraordinary eloquence in the first place, which the studies of the humanities rendered him by merit more favorable and admirable to the prince. From the right of which that blessed man died, there is none of us who ought to doubt that his fortune was connected with his virtue and wisdom. Now, however, it is to be believed that he has arrived at that place where wise men enjoy an eternal age he will rescue.

Description of the tarot game attributed to Marziano da Tortona given by Cicognara op. cit.

We were able to see in Milan with the utmost interest and pleasure a very ancient deck of tarot cards now owned by Mrs. a Contessa Aureli at Visconte Gonzaga and we have not posed any doubt that it is not the same one mentioned by the Decembrio in the vol. XX Ital. Scrip. Life Phil. Mar. Vicecom LXI.
And it is convenient to believe that this precious monument of art was held by the owner with much jealousy almost buried, since Tiraboschi, who stayed for a long time in Milan, closely linked with all the educated people of that distinguished city, ignored resistance, unless did not help to inspire such a reserve the high price indicated by the truly extraordinary Decembrio. And in this place it happens to be able to opportunely observe, that no argument can be drawn from this as some would have also wished when comparing the high price of this deck of cards with the three which painted by Gringonneur were bought to amuse Charles VI totally imbecile and paid only with 56 sous of France, minimum price and that

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gave rise to making an English writer believe that they were not painted by hand, but all printed and then colored and gilded, a very weak reason to establish in France and everywhere that in the year 1392 printing was in use when there are none more convenient: since it would first be necessary to establish comparatively to the present value of the number what was then worth the money of France; secondly, the cards made by a diligent illuminator with all the care of art, alluding to a splendid marriage, cannot be confused with those that were commonly performed, even if stamps were used, or hand-drawn , as must have been those of Gringonneur painter, who executed them in gold and color but without anything distinct and precious, especially having to serve as the amusement of an imbecile and probably in a more coarse way than those of the Durazzo collection, of the Turin cabinet and of the ones owned by us. These considerations will respond in part to what Ottley and Singer wrote about them at the same time, although they do not agree with each other. That if it is then added to have Filippo Maria Visconti paid that huge price to a noble of his court as his intimate secretary, one will perhaps also find, however beautiful and precious that work, the reward commensurate with the degree rather than to the merit of the artist. For this we will not draw the false induction that the ancient memory and the existence of this magnificent game has to ensure that Italy a palm of invention, as we have repeated in this regard from the chronicles preserved by the Redi and around the inscription placed on the portrait of Francesco Fibbia in Bologna, but we will nevertheless like to spend as much as we were grateful to communicate the very clear Mr. Cattaneo

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director of the numismatic cabinet in Milan, distinguished archaeologist and famous artist, who, having, by courtesy of the owner lady, kept some time with himself in said game of tarot, was able to extend at his leisure an exact description which we almost literally inserted here :
"The tarot game performed for Duke Filippo Maria differs somewhat, although not essentially from this one in use today by the Italians, the Germans, as can be seen for this work by Breitkopf printed in Leipzig in 1724 in 4 Primarily the suit or pole of the Batons expressed in common games with a sort of scepter or tree branches, in this it represents braids intertwined in the usual way in similar cards. The figures of the sticks, however, hold a sort of golden club in their hands in place of the braids. It should also be noted that the figures of each suit in this game are five and not four as in those other known ones, seeing now the knave doubled, now the horse, varying the sex, it being probable that the lack of the male knave in the stake of swords and other figures in other piles are true accidental failures due to lost cards, and not due to the disposition of the game, as there is also a lack of 3 of denier, while the minor cards of the other three piles are completed.
«According to the game now in use, in the class of trumps or tarots, it seems that in this ancient deck there are eleven missing in addition to the figure of the fool. But by not bearing the number imprinted on these cards, as I see in ours or in those published by Breitkopf and Court de Gibelin, it would perhaps be too risky to want to specify the positive shortcomings, much more if we reflect on some variety that among these figures s 'meets in comparison to the representations of ours.

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After which preliminary observations, the cards are described, starting with the trumps, which the Lombards call by definition tarots and the French Atous.
Religion or rather faith. Matron seated in front dressed in gold and in armellum, with her right she points to the chalice, on which the sacred host is superimposed, and with her left hand she holds the cross. At the bottom we see the figure of a king with a golden crown on his head. At the foot of the Religion you can see the vestiges of a legend too missing to be read, but the few letters visible give sufficient reason to believe the author's name Mar Mano ... Note that in modern games, and in the one illustrated of Court de Gibelin is seen as we have just exposed, the Popess is represented, and in that of Breitkopf, perhaps imitated by the one used in Protestant Germany, the Popess is replaced by Juno, since Jupiter is substituted for the Pope.
Empress - Crowned matron figure, all dressed in gold, and in armlet, sitting with a scepter in the right, and with an imperial coat of arms in the left.
And she accompanied by four bridesmaids dressed in various clothes, but all of proportions, half smaller than the Empress, so that the devotees at that time were emboldened and sculpted by images. On the mantle of the damsel on the lower right, this is written in gold characters. Beo auspicious Emperors.
Emperor - Male figure seated on a throne, all covered in iron armor, except for the head which is covered by a large fan-shaped hat, on which the imperial eagle which is repeated, but in gold, is painted in black , neh armor towards the chest. She holds the scepter in the right and the left placed over a golden globe. There are four vaguely and variously dressed pages around it, one

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of which kneeling at 1 foot of the throne carries the golden crown in his hands. The motto a bon droit is written on the supra on the lower right, which is seen as part of the coats of arms of 1 Visconti, also written around the white dove radiated in the precious missal donated by Gio. Galeazzo count of Virtù to the Basilica Ambrosiana. We have also referred to this motto in the history of sculpture, when it happened to describe and illustrate the beautiful door sculpted by Mi- chelozzo for one of the palaces of this distinguished family, which is seen adorned with such coats of arms, emblems, or devises, as it was customary, and can still be seen very well preserved today in Milan in the Bossi road.
Love - Child love, with blindfolded eyes, and flying, he drops two fiery arrows on two spouses, who are on the floor hugging their right in front of a curtain, whose draperies raised in front allow us to see the nuptial bed. The figures of the spouses are Duke Filippo Maria, who is also similar to the features of physiology, with his head adorned with a large fan-shaped hat, and on which the usual motto a bon droit is written: the other should be his first wife Beatrice Tenda widow of Facino Cane, and already advanced in age. Probably she wanted to let the craftsman out of her surname, with the strange idea of ​​placing the nuptial bed in a tent, and the kinship of her first husband with the dog at her feet. On the roof • of the pavilion the word Amor is written in gold letters. The border of the same is formed entirely by a continuation of blasonic shields, alternating the Visconti coat of arms with that of Pavia, and it is almost similar to that of Milan, that is a white cross on a red background. Only one discrepancy is found in the figure of Filippo Maria, namely in the color of the hair that

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they are blond, while Decembrio, a contemporary writer, says they were black. But perhaps it was the custom at that time to pretend, in those who did not have hair color, as we saw practiced towards the end of the eighteenth century, before the French revolution. In fact it is singular that in all the virile and feminine figures expressed on this game, there is none that does not have an absolute golden blond, and even the hair and beard of the old man who represents the king of cups.
Chariot - Matrona, perhaps the same Duchess Beatrice equally dressed as in the preceding map, seated on a chariot, covered with a kind of Gothic temple, with a scepter on the left, and with the Radiata blasonic dove de 'Visconti on the right. The chariot is pulled by two white horses led by a groom mounted above the one on the right against current use. It should be noted that in all tarrocchi, both in those produced by Court de Gibelin and by Breitkopf, the chariot is perfectly opposite, and the figure, sitting on it, is that of a King, while this one inside against it represents a woman, and the chariot is almost in perfect profile.
Strength - The woman who tears the jaws of the lion, instead of having her head covered by a large hat, as in all the tarrocchi so far known, here wears a golden crown, which somewhat resembles in shape the turreted crown of the ancients, and her blond hair is loose and scattered in the wind. Her large dress is in silver brocade lined with a small armlet.
Death is on a black horse, her head is girded by a fluttering white bandage, she gallops over a heap of people lying on the ground, whose heads she cuts without distinction with the large iron she holds in her hands. Among you persons subjected there is a Pontiff, a Cardinal, etc. etc.

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In the Middle Ages, less flattering artists were all penetrated by that Mors aequo pede etc. and infallibility was not involved in the elevation of the rank. In the Campo Santo in Pisa the paintings of Or cagna, those of Giotto in the Foscari Chapel in Padua, the pulpers sculpted by Nicolò da Pisa, all the early productions, confirm the above.
Hope - Woman in profile, crowned, with hands folded in prayer and neck, looking towards a ray of light. She hangs a rope from her right arm to which an anchor is attached, which lies on the ground. At the foot of Hope we saw an old man on all fours with a halter around his neck, and with the words Iuda Traditor written in white letters on his peacock dress. And 1 it should be noted that in the known games, even the most ancient, there is always the figure of Temperance, never that of Hope. Perhaps one rune was substituted for the other; but it seems more likely that in this case this card corresponds to the Suspended one that is explained in some tarrocchi for hanged man. Thus seeming to indicate the figure of the Judas introduced here with a halter around his neck, which perhaps was thus changed later.
Charity - Seated woman, crowned, richly dressed in golden brocade and with a mantle of armellini, holding a vase in her right, in which a flame burns, and with her left hand supporting a new baby, nursing at the left stern of she. At her feet an old King rises, turning his head upwards. And to what number in the class of tarrocchi it corresponds, we would not know how to define; what can be recognized, however, both from this figure and from the antecedents, is that in the most ancient times of this game, the figures alluding to the Theological virtues were preferred rather than the Cardinals, adopted later, perhaps as less improper to such a profane use.

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Among the latter, only Strength is found in this game, as Prudence was found to be lacking in the more modern games, unless one wishes to hold on to the attribution of this virtue, assigned by Court de Gibellin to the figure of 'Hanged, since he recognizes, and we have noticed the exchange produced by the ignorance of the card makers, having to express as a sign of prudence a man pede suspense, and never overthrown or hanged.
Judgment - Two angels above the clouds, announced the resurrection of the dead. High in the sky you can read in golden letters surgite ad iudiciurn. Below I see various open tombs from which people of different ages and sexes rise to eternal life. The same emblems according to the systems, and the different theogonies serve to explain quite different things, and are then modified by omitting or adding, as they bring, the varieties of times, cults, affections, and human customs.
World. - Matrona, half figure, richly dressed with a naked head, with a trumpet on the side in the right, and a golden crown in the left. She is seen protruding from a large golden diadem at the top ending in a kind of two-colored serpentine seal. Below is a large arch perhaps expressing the roundness of the globe. Under this arch you can see the sea with v eleggi ant ships, a river in which a boat with sailing friars, and on the banks of which, you can see an armigerian on horseback on one side, and a fisherman on the other. . The remainder then figures mountains, towers, castles, surrounded by water, houses, fields, meadows, etc.

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According to the order of the game known by the authors who have previously dealt with it, and if the discrepant figures corresponded to those indicated here, according to the exposition of Mr. Cat- taneo, this game would be missing. numbers i. Bagatlo, v. Pope, cowards. Justice, ix. Romito, x. Fortuna, xiv. Temperance, xv. Devil, xvi. Tower or house of God xvn. Stars, xvni. xix. & o / £, and finally the malt, that is, dedication in everything. The something is very likely because a work of such luxury, and of such elegance will not have escaped the greed, or the rapacity of the curious, who will perhaps have fled the most singular of these cards, in addition to those many events, to which it must be exposed. a loose bunch of folders. It is precisely the luxury of the art with which it is executed, and the expertise or talent independent of the artist, will have served to ensure that in these papers a greater variety was naturally introduced, which flattered his genius, while always wanting invenlis addere, variety, which even better served to illustrate the circumstance for which it was illuminated, making the game indicate the allusions to marriage, and to large families, which it was to serve as entertainment. A game played with a stamp is quite different, for all those who want to make use of it without distinction, from those games that an artist of taste adorns his work for such a luminous circumstance, and all the more, that Marziano da Tortona was a learned man, and an amateur in art, who aspired to put his own in it and did not have to suffer from being materially faithful to popular customs. As proof of these things it is beautiful to observe in the deck described the suit of coins, which are all aurates, it carries by type the blasonic dove radiata in the court cards, and in the minor cards it always represents the largest gold coin of Filippo Maria, published by Argèlati T. I. Plate XV. N. XXIX, always accompanied by its reverse each time they are coupled, since there is only the axis, and the two of denarii, which, being larger, have instead a silver interior, on which is painted d 'beyond the Visconti snake.
And we have the satisfaction of being able to confirm with beautiful arguments how this luxury of splendid execution in tarot cards was widespread at the time in Italy and in the period most dear to the resurgence of studies and the arts.
Huck
http://trionfi.com
cron