ORDERS OF THE C TYPE IN ITALY
First, besides the Tarot de Marseille he cites two Lombard pieces of evidence for the C order. One is a "tarot appropriati" called the "Susio poem", from Pavia sometimes between 1525 and 1572. The other is a poem by Alciati. He says it's 1547. but actually, it's 1544. Alciati was in Milan or Pavia then, after some years in France before that. Other evidence of the C order comes from c. 1570 Piedmont--the Discorso of Piscina--the 1558 Catelin Geoffroy tarot of Lyons, the 1659 list from the Maison Acadamique, Vieville's deck of c. 1650, and of course the Tarot de Marseille itself, starting with Noblet c. 1650-70 Paris.
Here are the two charts again that give the C order in various sources, the first Dummett's in 1980 and the second Marco Ponzi on THF.
THE SFORZA CASTLE CARDS
In a discussion much like that in Game of Tarot, Dummett compares these cards to the Tarot de Marseille. The numeral cards are similar in design to the Tarot de Marseille; the 2 of Coins gives a 1499 date and Milanese producer (289), verified independently for this time and place, according to both Kaplan and Dummett (image scanned from Kaplan vol. 2 p. 289).
At that time, there were other ways of representing the 2 of Coins. The Minchiate has two separated coins with faces on them (http://www.facade.com/tarot/description/?Deck=minchiate&Card=38). The "Budapest" has two large coins in the same configuration, separated by a bird, presumably an eagle, with wings out. That style is continued in the Anonymous Parisian (http://a-tarot.eu/p/2014/paris-coins.jpg). But the Noblet (http://eno-tarot.blogspot.com/2012/09/jean-noblet-tarot.html) and especially the Payen (below, from http://www.tarot.org.il/Payen/) uniquely connect to the Tarot de Marseille, and corresponds almost exactly.
Was this 1499 design Milanese from the start or imported from
France
or Burgundy? Dummett does not try to answer that question, here or in
most places in this chapter. But the style of the coin is exactly the
same as on a 6 of Coins with a scene from Orlando Furioso
on its back. In that scene, the hero Ruggiero, whom the book defines as
the noble ancestor of the Estense, is trying to get his armor off so he
can
have his way with a girl he just rescued from a monster, and meanwhile
she disappears, using a
magic ring Ruggioro had given her without knowing its power. That
installment of Ariosto's epic sequel to Boiardo's Orlando Inamorato
was first published in 1516. Although Ariosto was
Ferrarese, there is no reason to suppose that the cards are Ferrarese or
Venetian, Dummett argues. It is hard to imagine that card as French.
Ariosto's Italian-language epic poem was to Italian taste, hardly
something for French mass consumption. There are several court cards in this group. Of them, the three incomplete Jacks (Pages) all are similar to their Tarot de Marseille counterparts (pp. 291-2), Especially characteristic is the wide-brimmed hat on the one on p. 291, a Jack of Coins. As far as I can see this wide-brimmed hat is
found on all French Jacks of Coins except the Anonymous Parisian. So
again we have a good link to the Tarot de Marseille. The Anonymous
Parisian is again linked to a non-Milanese design.
In the group of cards with gods on the back, there is also a King (Kaplan p. 290, top left), about which Dummett says (p. 337):
I haven't seen another King exactly like this one elsewhere.Dell’unico Re, ci è rimasta quasi esattamente la metà superiore. La sua posa non è identica a quella di nessuno dei Re del Tarocco di Marsiglia, ma egli indossa esattamente lo stesso grande cappello floscio sormontato da una corona, a ulteriore conferma del rapporto fra i due mazzi. Siede su uno scranno a schienale diritto e ha lo sguardo volto leggermente a destra; non indossa armatura e regge sulla spalla sinistra una verga di cui non si scorge l’estremità, poiché l’angolo superiore destro della carta è danneggiato. Potrebbe trattarsi di uno scettro, che manca su tutti i Re del Tarocco di Marsiglia; oppure di un segno di seme dì Bastoni, anche se come tale pare piuttosto sottile. L’ipotesi più probabile è che si tratti di un Re di Denari o di Coppe; in entrambi i casi, il disegno doveva essere un po’ diverso da quello del Tarocco di Marsiglia.
(Of the only King, there has remained almost exactly the upper half. His pose is not identical to that of any of the Kings of the Tarot of Marseilles, but he is wearing exactly the same great slouch hat surmounted by a crown, a further confirmation of the relationship between the two decks. He sits on a chair in the back right and his face look slightly to the right; he does not wear armor and holds a rod on his left shoulder of which we cannot see the end, because the upper right corner of the card is damaged. It could be a scepter, which is missing on all the Kings of the Tarot of Marseilles; or of the suit sign of Batons, although it seems rather thin. The most likely hypothesis is that it is a King of Coins or Cups; In both cases, the design must have been a bit different from that of the Tarot of Marseilles.)
There
is also another king, but with a different back, of which we see the
bottom half, with his legs crossed and apparently holding a cup (Kaplan
289). Dummett says (p. 339):In the Tarot de Marseille, only the King of Coins has his legs crossed. But the Sforza Castle card seems to be holding a cup. Perhaps there was a switch at some point. I don't know any other King exactly like this one.We cannot see any link between this card and the Tarot of Marseilles.
In this group is also a World card (293. top), which he says is quite similar to the Tarot de Marseille I's in that there is a cloak rather than a scarf. Below are two for comparison: the Sforza Castle and the Payen, the same deck as the 2 of Coins I showed earlier. Dummett observes:
Questo disegno è estremamente simile a quello del Tarocco di Marsiglia. C’è la stessa ghirlanda ovale che racchiude la stessa figura di donna nuda, ci sono i simboli dei quattro Evangelisti ai lati, disposti allo stesso modo. L’unica sostanziale differenza è che non c’è una scritta in fondo alla carta che ne fornisca la denominazione. Ancora una volta, la versione variante del Tarocco di Marsiglia pare più vicina della versione definitiva al disegno milanese: la figura indossa un mantello gettato indietro sulle spalle e, pur avendo il ginocchio sinistro piegato, non accavalla la gamba sinistra sulla destra. Questo fatto conferma che la variante rappresenta uno stadio più antico nell’evoluzione del Tarocco di Marsiglia in Francia rispetto alla sua versione definitiva.
La collocazione del numerale su questa carta attesta l’introduzione relativamente tarda di numerali sui trionfi dei mazzi di tarocchi milanesi, perché, al contrario di quanto avviene nella maggior parte dei primi tarocchi italiani — quando pure essi presentano numerali — esso non è inseritoa forza dovunque il disegno gli lasci uno spazio. Novati fa risalire queste carte al tardo XVI secolo: è probabile che abbia ragione. I.[end of 340] bordi punteggiati fanno pensare al XVI piuttosto che al XVII secolo; il numerale sul trionfo suggerisce una data posteriore ai primi anni del secolo. La nostra ipotesi, cioè che prima del Cinquecento ai trionfi milanesi mancassero i numeri, è confermata dal foglio Cary e dall’Eremita nella Bibliothèque Nationale. Tuttavia, nel primo mazzo di tarocchi francese pervenutoci, del 1557, i trionfi hanno numeri romani nello stesso luogo del Mondo milanese, cioè in cima alla carta, nel centro del bordo. (Nel mazzo del 1557, comunque, c’è anche un numero rovesciato in basso, ancora nel centro del bordo.) La pratica francese probabilmente era copiata da quella milanese. Si può dunque datare l’introduzione dei numeri sui trionfi dei tarocchi milanesi al 1525 circa.
(This design is extremely similar to that of the Tarot of Marseilles. There is the same oval wreath enclosing the same figure of a nude woman, there are symbols of the four
Evangelists on the sides, arranged in the same way. The only substantial difference is that there is no inscription in the bottom of the card that provides the name. Again, the variant version of the Tarot of Marseilles seems closer than the final version to the design in Milan: the figure wearing a cloak thrown over his shoulders and back, while having the left knee bent, crossing the left leg on the right. This fact confirms that the variant represents an older stage in the evolution of the Tarot of Marseilles in France compared to the final version.
The location of the numeral of this card attests to the relatively late introduction of numerals on the triumphs of tarot decks from Milan, because, contrary to what happens in most of the early Italian tarot cards - when they even have numerals - it is not inserted by force anywhere on the drawing that leaves a space. Novati has these cards going back to the late sixteenth century: he is probably right. The [end of 340] dotted borders make one think rather of the sixteenth than the seventeenth century; the numeral on the triumph suggests a date later than the early years of the century. Our hypothesis, that is, that before the sixteenth century the triumphs of Milan lacked numbers, is confirmed by the Cary Sheet and the Hermit in the Bibliotheque Nationale. However, in the first extant deck of French tarot, in 1557, the triumphs have Roman numerals in the same place as on the World in Milan, that is, on top of the card, in the center of the border. (In the deck of 1557, however, there is also a number upside down at the bottom, still in the center of the border.) The French practice was probably copied from that of Milan. Therefore the introduction of numbers on the tarot trumps in Milan can be dated to about 1525.)
Another
take on the Sforza Castle design is Vieville, c. 1650 Paris. He seems
to interpret the figure as male, probably Jesus. How do we know whether
the Sforza Castle design was
first French or Italian? One argument for Italy, it seems to me, is that
the animals in the corner are on another card of that time, the
"Tarot of Mantegna" 2nd series final card, number 50, Prima Causa
(above). This series, 1480s Italy,
came to the attention of German buyers but not, so far as I know, of the
French. But having the four sacred animals in the corners of a
rectangle with a mandorla in the middle framing Jesus or Mary was a
common medieval design. Also, in this case, as in the case of the 2 of Coins and the Jack of Coins, the relationship is to the TdM--here specifically, the T de M I-- but not to the Anonymous Parisian, a lady on a globe, which may derive from Italy but not Milan.
Dummett's argument in the quote above, that the cloak on the World person shows that the "variant" T de M (Depaulis's T de M I) is earlier than the "final" form (T de M II), does not seem to me conclusive. The difficulty is that if one looks at Italian engravings of the late 15th century, notably Baldini in Florence,(see the Appendix to the previous chapter) the style is at least as close at that of the T de M II than to the T de M I. It is possible that two traditions developed, both Italian, one a student of Baldini's. However it is true that the Sforza Castle card is in the "T de M I" line rather than "T de M II".The Sforza Castle cards in general, even the 2 of Coins, are indeed closer to the T de M I than the Td M II.
There are also Sforza Castle cards with plain backs: knights, numeral cards, and a Sun card. Of these, the Knights are quite similar to the Tarot de Marseille (p. 294 bottom, 296); but one is "Spanish style " i.e. with the plume (p. 294 top). All but the "Spanish" look later, too, Dummett reasonably suspects them of being imports from France around 1700. Other researchers have gone as early as 1650, he says.
Again, I don't know "Spanish" knights in France of that time. Also, it seems to me as likely a coin as a plume, which would clearly fit the Tarot de Marseille at that time.
In
this group is also a Sun card, which
Dummett says has "two young men" in front of the brick wall (p. 343).
This
card was most likely imported from France, too, he says. He doesn't say
why; I suppose it is because the Cary Sheet Sun card is quite
different. I once made a composite of various pairs, at left. I can't
tell
what the gender is of the one on the right. That might be a woman's
breast. If so, we know where Noblet got his impression of the card. On
the other hand, it might not be female, as it is otherwise similar to
the Dodal (which is similar to the Payen, if you were wondering). As you
see, the
Conver has little dots for male nipples. These are two ways of
interpreting the same original idea, I think.There is not much to conclude from an examination of the Sforza Castle cards, except that the earlier cards are more likely Italian and proto-TdM, and the later ones more likely French Tarot de Marseille, Italian copies of Tarot de Marseille. Whether the earlier cards are originally Italian designs or French ones is not clear, except that the World card, and hence the Tarot de Marseille World as well, is likely of Italian design, c. 1525 or a little later if Dummett is right about the dotted borders. As for the later cards, that there are both all-masculine and half-feminine versions of the Sun card later in France speaks to me that the Sun card is earlier and hence more likely Italian than a copy of the French.
The presence of Spanish-influenced cards also, I think, suggests their Italian origin. Italy was dominated by Spain in the 16th century, including Milan after 1530. France, on the other hand, was the enemy of Spain, and so less likely to have Spanish-influenced cards at that time.
THE CARY SHEET
The main subject of Chapter 13 is the Cary Sheet, which he says is from Milan c. 1500, give or take a few years. It is a black (actually, brown) and white proof sheet from woodcuts and contains many of the common triumph subjects; it came with the Cary-Yale deck to Yale and presumably was part of the collection of the Visconti di Madrone.
Whether it is a Milanese design or one imported from France requires some argument. It was debated inconclusively in a long thread on THF (http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=566), using a set of criteria that didn't go anywhere, namely, comparing clothing styles in different countries with those in the Cary Sheet. The problem was that all the clothing turned out to be as fashionable in Italy as it was in France at that time.
As far as I can tell, Dummett was only mentioned once in the whole thread, by Ross Caldwell in the first post; he gave a brief summary based on Game of Tarot, essentially saying that Dummett's argument was the following: since the Tarot de Marseille's imagery is related to the Cary Sheet, and the Cary Sheet is from around the time the French occupied Milan for an extended period, they must have taken the tarot from Milan. That of course is not much of an argument, since the French could just as well have brought the designs seen in the Cary Sheet to Milan.
Dummett's discussion of the Cary Sheet in Il Mondo e l'Angelo goes on for many pages. One might hope that his argument is better than that. But mostly all he does say is that it is similar to the Tarot de Marseille, both in how it looks and in its order of triumphs, which is type C in both cases. That is of course not a good argument for a Milanese origin. The reports of the C order in Milan are all after the French occupation, so they could have brought it to Milan. But there is more. For some cards, he says, the Cary Sheet is similar in design to the previous Milan painted cards. That at last gets to something in Milan before the Cary Sheet: if the Cary Sheet originated in Milan, there should be something that ties the Cary Sheet especially to Milan previously.
Another issue is that perhaps the Cary Sheet is an ancestor to other French decks besides the Tarot de Marseille. And perhaps other Italian centers of the tarot with different designs also influenced the T de M and other French decks. Dummett does not consider other Italian decks besides the Milan ones, or other French decks besides the Tarot de Marseille. These questions require looking at a lot of decks, not just the three or four you think are related (i.e. CY, PMB, Cary Sheet, Tarot de Marseille).
Dummett's method was to identify specific objective features of the Cary Sheet and compare them to features in other decks. That is one way of tracing influences. So I will go through his analysis row by row, expanding on it to include more about other decks, Italian ones before the Cary Sheet and French ones after it. I will go group by group, posting the image (from the Beineke website) between the quote and my discussion.
Dummett starts with the bottom row of the Cary Sheet.
Sulle due carte del seme di Bastoni, i segni di seme hanno esattamente la forma piatta che è tipica del Tarocco di Marsiglia, con le stesse estremità a cuneo: mancano solo i numerali ai lati.
(On the two cards in the suit of Batons, the suit signs have exactly the flat shape that is typical of the Tarot of Marseilles, with the same end of the wedge, lacking only the numerals on the sides.
In other styles of decks, the Batons frequently have knobs at the end, making them more like scepters than polo sticks. This knob is on the PMB, Bolognese tarot, Minchiate, and even in some Swiss Tarot de Marseille IIs, i.e. Claude Burdel 1751, whose 7 of Batons has both the flowers on the sides and the Roman numerals. Anonymous Parisian has totally unique Batons, somewhat similar to the Spanish in that they are clubs with knobs on the sides (http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/images/p-decks/parisgrimaudcards.gif). I had not expected the Marseille style to be the only one with Malmuk-style polo sticks. The "Moorish" deck has them, but in the Malmuk style (http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards77.htm), more like real polo sticks. That's all I know about.
We might compare the Tarot de Marseille with early Italian decks in other respects. A leaf and flower pattern around the suit-objects is characteristic of the Tarot de Marseille (although not all members of every suit) and what we see of the Cary Sheet, but not of other printed Italian decks.i.e. the Budapest cards (posted by Marco Ponzi from Kaplan at http://forum.tarothistory.com/download/file.php?id=402 and http://forum.tarothistory.com/download/file.php?id=400), the Sicilian, and the Minchiate (http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards67.htm). However that might just be characteristic of printed decks rather than hand-painted ones. The Correr cards (Kapaln vol. 1 p.) have the flower and leaf motif. the "Charles VI" Jack of Swords does not have a floral background, but his clothing has that pattern. Another difference is that the Tarot de Marseille Swords are curved, unlike the PMB and CY but like the Brera-Brambilla (http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards34.htm). The Budapest swords curve outward at the ends, whereas the BB and Marseille curve inwards. Unfortunately I do not have access to other decks in that suit.
The Aces are of special interest. The Tarot de Marseille Ace of Swords has the Visconti heraldic of a crown and palm frond, which Decker in his book The Esoteric Tarot calls a Visconti signature. But the Bolgognese Ace of Swords is the same, and 18th century Minchiate does, too. I don't know if the ruling families of other cities had that heraldic or not; if not, perhaps it originated in Milan. Another special feature of the Tarot de Marseille Batons and Swords is the arm reaching out, along with wavy lines. This feature is not in the early Milan extant cards but is in Budapest group 5: http://forum.tarothistory.com/download/file.php?id=402. Other decks have the arm (Minchiate, Bologna) but not the lines.
In its suit cards, in other words, the TdM--and likely also the Cary Sheet--is more similar to the printed tarot of Venice, Bologna, and Florence (Minchiate) than the painted cards of Milan. But unfortunately we don't have any examples of printed cards of Milan as opposed to the TdM and the Cary Sheet.
I continue, still on the botom row of the Cary Sheet:
The Cary Sheet's Temperance sits in a high-backed chair. In the Tarot de Marseille, however, the lady stands and has wings. Unlike the Empress's chair, however, the chair's sides could not be mistaken for wings. As though taking after the PMB , the Anonymous stands, as does Vieville's (with a staff and the banner "Sola Fama").La Temperanza siede su una sedia a schienale alto e versa da un recipiente all’altro. Il Diavolo è una figura con le coma, un volto sul torso e un cesto sulla schiena con figurine di dannati, uno dei quali egli getta alFInferao con una forca. La Torre, di cui abbiamo soltanto il quarto superiore destro, presenta una netta somiglianza con quella del Tarocco di Marsiglia. Si può scorgere la stessa alta torre rotonda, anche se la cima non sta precipitando; se un fulmine è sul punto di colpirla, esso doveva trovarsi nel lato superiore sinistro della carta. L’aria è piena delle stesse palline che compaiono nel Tarocco di Marsiglia. Non si scorgono figure umane; sembra che da dietro alla torre sporga una vacca.
(Temperance sits on a high-backed chair pouring from one container to another. The Devil is a figure with the coma, a face on his torso and a basket on his back with little figures of the damned, one of whom he throws inside with a fork. The Tower, of which we have only the upper right quarter, shows a clear resemblance to that of the Tarot of Marseilles. You can see the same high round tower, even if the top is not falling; if lightning is about to strike, it has to be in the upper left side of the card. The air is full of the same balls that appear in the Tarot of Marseilles. No human figures can be seen; it seems that the tower protrudes from behind a cow.
In earlier decks, the "Charles VI" has a high-backed chair, rather similar to the Cary Sheet's (http://expositions.bnf.fr/renais/grand/039.htm). In fact most of the early Temperances sit. The d'Este Temperance sits, while the PMB stands (see https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrm4FmyDuWB-cZDQxuDMIvhfwk-qb2m2olMAZlEqfPy6qR3AYR_MeQco2P01eiqMBqWHgQgK4OTxLRX_9iGiXvS0B7zHrDz9MMyJtM-bNP86WoplqLBUJ7Bw_GKQvQS6O2FACp5b-UWA/s400/14aSforzaDeste.JPG, shown with the PMB's).
There are no earlier Devil cards to compare this one to, unfortunately. Among card contemporary with the Cary Sheet, the Budapest (i.e. Venice/Ferrara) card is quite close, missing only the little souls.
The
Tower (far left) is indeed like the Tarot de Marseille (Noblet, third from left), with little globes falling
down. But the pastoral setting (the cow) and lack of a tilted top make
it more like the type B Budapest card (second from left)). Vieville (fourth) has sheep and a tree ,
also pastoral. The Tarot de Marseille has two human figures outside the
tower. fallen or in the act of falling. The only early card with that
feature is the Bolognese, which also (like other A cards) has the
crumbling top (upper left at http://www.letarot.it/cgi-bin/pages/saggi/foglio_2.JPG. I know of no Italian model for the globes. They are not
like the "droplets" on the Sun card in that they are round. The only
thing I have seen similar is an Anglo-Norman illumination of the
Apocalypse, depicting hail (below). Red globes could signify fire. I do not know of an Italian origin for these globes.
I will move on to the second row from the bottom, i.e. the third row from the top:
Nella terza fila, della carta che probabilmente è il Matto, possiamo scorgere una figura in movimento verso destra con il bastone in spalla. Il Bagatto presenta un giovane con un cappellino conico, in piedi accanto a un tavolo su cui sono disposti vari oggetti, e con una verga nella mano sinistra: è ritratto di tre quarti. Questa carta assomiglia alla sua corrispondente del Tarocco di Marsiglia molto di più quando la si descrive a parole che nella realtà.
(In the third row, the card is probably the Fool, we can see a figure moving to the right with the stick on his shoulder. The Bagatto shows a young man with a conical hat, standing next to a table on which are placed various objects, and with a rod in his left hand: he is portrayed in three-quarters. This card appears much more like its correspondent in the Tarot of Marseilles when we describe in words than in reality.)
In that the Cary Sheet Fool walks and has a big stick (apparently for defense), he is like the Tarot de Marseille. The stick connects him with the PMB; and in both the PMB and the Cary Sheet his leggings are around his ankles. In all these ways he is differentiated from other early Fools. The Vieville and Belgian tarots follow the Tarot de Marseille. The Anonymous Parisian is quite different; he has a bauble and a fool's cap, like a professional Fool, in that way like the Budapest, Minchiate, and Bolognese Fools.
I continue:
The Star and the Moon on the Cary Sheet are indeed uniquely like the Tarot de Marseille, and unlike the Vieville and other non-TdM French cards (compare at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbf1EzY_MCe5vd671O9keo9JheB3Jtj60tDzsujswPNlk8meiCJpnAKf3x_NOliychQJzDC6NYHh6yoW0jfEdpukTDnweScb7XY24MnUinc7UcMsWoHjXT-1uGATYUy1PAOeWiEo4Pn8/s400/17aNobChoslDod.jpg and https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Td4whWR-hLZQPefZfWuJUmIGIPsMMLDUL7ep2djWnaKOFNtkruS5QDPfAqQgodudddAoeFEBz4mxVUNT0KKXqPjelrRJ-guNxmgcjWJDnCyQleTXz6-1PNOwDnrSG0py8Ae9LK23OMgK/s400/18aanobDodCon3.jpg). They are also quite different from any preceding or contemporary cards in Italy. The only similarity is that the PMB Star card has a woman. But it is a clothed woman and there is only one star, in the upper corner, to which the woman is reaching. It is beleivable as a replacement for the Hope card, which has a similar woman looking at the same corner (at left). The same is true ofC’è una forte somiglianza fra la Stella e la versione della carta del Tarocco di Marsiglia: come in questa, una fanciulla nuda è in ginocchio presso un corso d’acqua e vi versa acqua da due recipienti; sopra di lei, ci sono una [end of 330] stella grande e quattro molto più piccole. L’unico dettaglio mancante è l’uccello sull’albero. Anche la Luna assomiglia molto alla carta del Tarocco di Marsiglia. Sotto la luna, che ha viso pieno e raggi, ci sono edifici in campo medio e una pozza con un gambero in primo piano; mancano i due cani e le ‘goccioline’ nell’aria. Queste ‘goccioline’ si possono scorgere, tuttavia, sul Sole, di cui abbiamo solo la metà destra. Il Sole ha viso e raggi e, sotto di esso, è ritto un bambino nudo (molto probabimente parte di una coppia); non c’è traccia di un muro.
(There is a strong similarity between the Star and the version of the card of the Tarot of Marseilles; as in this one, a nude girl is on her knees in a river and pours water from two flasks; above her, there are one [end of 330] large star and four much smaller. The only detail missing is the bird on the tree. The Moon is very similar to the card of the Tarot of Marseilles. Under the moon, which has s full face and rays, there are buildings in the middle field and a pool with a crayfish in the foreground; missing are the two dogs and the 'droplets' in the air These 'droplets' can be seen, however, on the Sun, which we have only the right half. The Sun has a face and rays and, below it, a child is standing naked (very probably part of a pair); there is no trace of a wall.)
This does not mean that they are not Milanese. It may well be that the PMB original cards, and the popular decks that corresponded to them, had no Star or Moon cards, or in fact any of the cards from Devil to Sun. Since they are invariably in the same order in every place they are found, including the Cary Sheet (from right to left), they may be late additions, during the time after the Peace of Lodi when there was easy trade and communciation among cities. While the order was the same, different cities could still assert their individuality by having different scenes at the bottom of the card while also having the card's subject prominently displayed at the top, for those players from out of town.
The Sun has a naked child with a banner. In that there is a naked child, it is like the PMB and no other pre-Cary Sheet card. Naked children are on the Tarot de Marseille, except the Noblet, which has adults, a fully clothed male and a partially clothed female (http:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Uti8Mrq2MzBJ1St6dlVY7xKNRCIRsuVC_jkS7dphsoBh0olqlGiF8I6BytBHWl9Enf5tsZgriWCnsibKgCmBTlTmm7SYHzfihuF40EzVUSwK7kMtdSBziCrueDkd75_VKUyuc3Vcp6Y//19NobletHeron.jpg). The TdeM cards also
have the rays, except that they are turned into droplets. Dummett seems to assume that there are two children on the Cary Sheet
card; but there is probably only room for one. "Andy's Playing Cards" has a
believable reconstruction (http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards69.htm).
The child holds a banner, and in that way is similar to Vieville's
version, which has a naked child and a banner, except that the child is riding a
horse. We move now to the second row from the top (still p. 331):
Si può vedere ben poco della carta all’estremità destra della seconda fila che è, presumìbilmente, la Papessa: solo una figura ammantata su una sedia a schienale alto. Come nella carta del Tarocco di Marsiglia, l’impera trice è seduta, regge lo scudo con l’aquila imperiale in una mano e uno scettro appoggiato alla spalla nell’altra. Il suo trono ha un’alta spalliera arrotondata, con le stesse strane ali sporgenti che compaiono sul Tarocco di Marsiglia. Come sul Tarocco di Marsiglia, l’Imperatore è ritratto di profilo da sinistra; ne differisce in quanto regge lo scettro sulla spalla e lo scudo davanti a sé e non ha le gambe accavallate. Il Papa non assomiglia per niente alla versione della carta del Tarocco di Marsiglia. Con un pastorale in mano e una mitra in capo, egli è ritto presso un altare, di fronte al quale è inginocchiato un monaco o frate. La Fortezza è a capo scoperto ed è in piedi con la mano sulla testa di un leone.
(You can see very little of the card at the right end of the second row which is, presumably, the Popess: only a cloaked figure on a high-backed chair. As in the card of the Tarot of Marseilles, the Empress is sitting, holding the shield with the imperial eagle in one hand and a scepter in the other resting on her shoulder. Her throne has a high rounded back, with the same strange protruding wings appearing on the Tarot of Marseilles. As in the Tarot of Marseilles, the Emperor is portrayed in profile to the left; it differs in that he holds the scepter over his shoulder and the shield in front of him and does not have his legs crossed. The Pope does not look anything like the card version of the Tarot of Marseilles. With a crozier in his hand and a miter on his head, he is standing at an altar, in front of which is a kneeling monk or brother. Fortitude is bareheaded and is standing with her hand on the head of a lion.)
Dummett identifies the Pope card as the one with the crozier, the first full card on our left. That makes sense in the C order, because it follows the Emperor, who follows the Empress. He sees no relation to the TdeM Pope, but in fact it resembles the Noblet, which also gives a crozier to the Pope, changed to a papal cross in the TdeM II (some examples are at http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/godandthemachine/files/2013/07/Marseilles-Pope-Trumps.png; the Noblet is at the far left). The PMB has no papal cross (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Visconti-sforza-05-pope.jpg/300px-Visconti-sforza-05-pope.jpg). The Vieville Pope also has a Crozier (http://www.letarot.it/cgi-bin/pages/saggi/saggi%20iconologici/saggi%20iconologici%20i/5%20-%20il%20papa/foto%20papa/Foto%204.jpg). The Budapest sheet 2, on the other hand, gives the crozier to the Popess; the Pope card is too mutiliated to tell much, except that there are two keys on the bottom of his chair and he holds a staff at a slant (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHikwOHz3LOkK5JSkReXcbQXbR64TK_wSN8Sz5WS-7u8lGHzRWdOgC1Jerv2nBWpgfaFJmGS9FGTBXynEZq6x3D5y8dgjc-RbcS__R-8U_c6ckmZdNf4n1igjP6F9CxcrWerR3rqzRypM/s1600/Budapest2Kaplan276.JPG, bottom row, from Kaplan p. 276). This is the first Pope I see with a staff.
But the keys are part of another tradition, associated with types A and B. The "Charles VI" Pope is holding a key (http://www.letarot.it/cgi-bin/pages/saggi/saggi%20iconologici/saggi%20iconologici%20i/5%20-%20il%20papa/foto%20papa/Foto%201.jpg), and probably so is the d'Este (at left at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKQWNZ6xVBSFmWUemJKlHP4_H2B7vgpiGdmK2GLK9cU9Pz2_CxE3fbKLV_Z_zFt4eVRFd2U-0pc08pA85tSggUgcnnCgCe-JOdayy4MLJwjmJYhHlO1ZOsH8oqyK6jWOMVKGtnSym2qeW/s1600/04aad'EsteMantegnaCarySheetSM.jpg. The key turns up again in the Geoffroy of 1557 Lyons, with a staff (http://cards.old.no/1557-geofroy/a05.png). The Anonymous Parisian has the papal cross, at a slant, and a key (http://cards.old.no/1557-geofroy/tdp/05.jpg).
There is one acolyte on the Cary Sheet, none in the Milanese hand-painted versions. The presence of two is perhaps owing to the "Charles VI", which got to Paris and then was forgotten about until 1704, when it was declared, since refuted, the original tarot.
Dummett identifies the Popess as the partial figure at the far right, based on where the card is on the sheet, before the Empress, as in the C order. It is hard to tell much from wht is left. The PMB Popess, however, has a staff, book, and papal tiara (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Bonifacio_Bembo.jpg). The Tarot de Marseille is like the PMB in having a book and a papal tiara, although the top layer is less elaborate than the pope's, (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2fN1Jsdw-5v94kvXGCdfoSrrUrrszRw2WnMvA0bciOk2pu5ENGJnbJVlYuOoTNfpnkZQLW6QNH_sO6w9FR_lBUgWIoGgWubBLKxxFUu0lJ8KlbO2VdVasmcDOkMYIg0ulCksJrIdSJY/s400/02NobConv.jpg). The Marseille has no staff.
There are not many other early Popess cards available to inspect. The Rosenwald's, like the PMB, has a book, but like the "Charles VI" Pope, has a key (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDfiMv6y111p27ViK_w1BbPs3x5S16p18Vcjf5Bv50ADDGOy0PIfzXhWx3sgExN69NMjIeisvQPVN13TGpdL6TH4uFIXyUGZ4Hjibuf0bIiMIxSMLO4zPqUMI3ZI4EBztQ5cUEul1zzQ/s1200/rosenwald.jpg). Keys are also featured on the Geoffroy (http://cards.old.no/1557-geofroy/a02.png) and Tarot de Paris (http://cards.old.no/1557-geofroy/tdp/02.jpg).
The Empress's high backed chair does give the effect of wings. Dummett says it is similar in the Tarot de Marseille; it is, but the TdeM's sides are closer together, more realistic (two examples, Noblet and Conver, at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyIVIUKtZwN9hIfjY-XmWliPkE6kCbQm6S30sIc0CnqrKG2XvhQ48f7Liaa8IpY5dPIDY4mEbgDKtPUnmRySBqvCDhRdXTf5ooLwI48K-2UK1AdaR35isHrVi6dtmavCOM8aDPeydX_wgX/s400/03CarySheetNobConv.jpg). Most important is the shield with the eagle. Among painted cards, that comes uniquely from CY and PMB (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGbzRHVmDrKytUg8j105dFOQ9862xIU98V3cXQJqcPFYxgog7Ra9zetboMc-UlrAiphkEW7gYirkFekdYwY3JjGq0YtnwBa5dZs1cmiVG1lwqIOrquEpzp2xcsoaEnfXDpeLjrV_D0ogk/s400/03acarySforzaBET.jpg). It is absent from the Charles VI, for example (at right at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVSsOCScqgavSi28iJaI8EY3G-EYwWOrnXmUW03YZhEMxCkvs7jtBYkz86VWRyiOHxIY3esLZ9Z_ph18nrHcxQgIA02O4lD9XC63iBKjk5F_C865yWlrk5qgdyzkWaIuSYFgAtlZ2JXXw/s1600/rothChVIEmp.jpg). We don't have the d'Este Empress, but the Budapest sheet 2, also type B, has the Eagle, as well as a high-backed chair that is not at all like wings (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHikwOHz3LOkK5JSkReXcbQXbR64TK_wSN8Sz5WS-7u8lGHzRWdOgC1Jerv2nBWpgfaFJmGS9FGTBXynEZq6x3D5y8dgjc-RbcS__R-8U_c6ckmZdNf4n1igjP6F9CxcrWerR3rqzRypM/s1600/Budapest2Kaplan276.JPG, bottom row, from Kapaln p. 276) The Dukes of Ferrara, elevated by the Pope, were also vassals of the emperor in Modena. The Cary Sheet card may derive from the PMB--or from Ferrara.
The Cary Sheet Emperor looks to me very similar to the Tarot de Marseille in comparison to other early Emperors. The eagle shield also occurs in the Budapest, and I think the chair. I cannot tell whether his legs are crossed or not, or what direction he faces (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHikwOHz3LOkK5JSkReXcbQXbR64TK_wSN8Sz5WS-7u8lGHzRWdOgC1Jerv2nBWpgfaFJmGS9FGTBXynEZq6x3D5y8dgjc-RbcS__R-8U_c6ckmZdNf4n1igjP6F9CxcrWerR3rqzRypM/s1600/Budapest2Kaplan276.JPG). They are crossed a the ankles in the CY but not the PMB (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97twdWzMrmoVY1A99LZVnbm-QYpGsqUA8GNYAPaba1zz9R_AWwR4tXyCTk8P0ezpihFx-TxW8AhhI4lsNfEth4FK83uCTEffbQqN9po8D3GIh5mlRxH47rnNP6a7DHOB5F3b6KeG7Vk0/s400/04aaCarySforza.JPG). But in the PMB they are crossed in Kings of Coins and Batons, repeated in group 5 of the Budapest (download/file.php?id=401).
The lion on the Cary Sheet certainly ties the card both to Milan's CY and the T de M (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdRoJCVsZZR2vDBka3sMVtOfvbUT6FHYfRex-Orr3I4Ij0vwBeYZy4eUHaRLaQriaNy9YFNLzAvMDbyVSJmNAWYvgCIIVMah4H5eKyMT2I8t6NdB8BIgXR7hsiA4Fg7lk_-koVDZoqcJU/s400/11acarySheetNobChos.jpg). She looks rather like the T de M II lady, too, even without her hat. The type A cards have a column instead of a lion, e.g. the Charles VI at http://www.letarot.it/cgi-bin/pages/saggi/saggi%20iconologici/saggi%20iconologici%20i/11%20-%20la%20%20forza/foto%20forza/Foto%205.jpg). The only type B card I can find is on Budapest Sheet 1, a lady and a lion (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0Sd_9fI6H4bge01jb2nTTb_FF5eWisVuehQA6TINX69OhY5PoxvDu3sE91hchvQA3z4FcLNN85HJ8fRU0N7tFuCT1IaJEQFxyYAgCHw-lZ6MV7gD6ZR7011ZPCjUS8qHHxCDhixwr_E/s1600/Budapest1Kaplan274.JPG, top right corner, from Kaplan p. 274).
That there are both Temperance and Fortitude in the Cary Sheet, with the latter like her image in the CY, indicates to me that the popular tarot in Milan had both since that time, even though they are absent from the original artist PMB. In other words, they were not removed in order to reduce the number of triumphs to 14, as I had raised as a possibility in discussing Dummett on the order of triumphs.
Finally (p. 331):
Delle carte della fila più alta, abbiamo solo le metà inferiori. Da quanto si può vedere, l’Amore ricorda la carta corrispondente del mazzo Visconti di Modrone, tranne per l’assenza del cagnolino. Del Carro, scorgiamo solo i due cavalli, che sembrano ritratti di fronte: tutto fa pensare che il disegno coincida con quello della carta corrispondente del Tarocco di Marsiglia. Lo stesso vale per la Ruota della Fortuna: vediamo solo la piattaforma su cui poggia la ruota, la sua parte più bassa e il manico che la fa girare, una caratteristica, quest’ultima, alquanto inconsueta della rappresentazione di questo soggetto nel Tarocco di Marsiglia.
(Of the cards of the top row, we have only the lower halves. From what we can see, Love recalls the corresponding card in the Visconti di Modrone deck, except for the absence of the dog. Of the Chariot, we see only the two horses, which appear depicted frontally: everything suggests that the design matches that of the corresponding card of the Tarot of Marseilles. The same applies to the Wheel of Fortune: we only see the platform upon which the wheel, its lower part and the handle that turns, a feature, the latter a somewhat unusual representation of this subject in the Tarot of Marseilles.)
The Cary Sheet Love, like the Cary-Yale, as Dummett observes (and PMB, I'd add) has one couple, both standing--and rather closer together, too. This also differentiates the Cary Sheet from other early Love cards. The Budapest has an arrow piercing the lady (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0Sd_9fI6H4bge01jb2nTTb_FF5eWisVuehQA6TINX69OhY5PoxvDu3sE91hchvQA3z4FcLNN85HJ8fRU0N7tFuCT1IaJEQFxyYAgCHw-lZ6MV7gD6ZR7011ZPCjUS8qHHxCDhixwr_E/s1600/Budapest1Kaplan274.JPG), which I don't think fits the Cary Sheet, which has them close together. Here the Vieville card is similar in having the couple, but there is also a male figure, probably a priest, on the card (http://www.tarot-history.com/Jacques-Vieville/images/originaux/6-Amoureux-web.jpg, The Tarot de Marseille makes the figure next to the couple more ambiguous, not a priest and possibly female (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzHA54mSODr77ZMrKnHqmNFCdFMx0i0S-F24AV6OsXIhNGVfn5LC0pKlCusnWywKumZJoGKgIzs67Rv17Wi0TVWW2X4YqeOPbfEGboXCDVRrXJkP51b6ZlmOWNaMlQ_YMt5hNzImznUJ4/s400/06cnobDodCon1761.jpg).
The Chariot is like Tarot de Marseille not only in that the horses are presented frontally, but also in that one is turned toward the other, which is not looking back (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzVHAzNzNl2yAgyl32oQqIq3bhAQvCWCNCubfz7uDW5dk9dc1NZSWFnUjYNxF1gik1MFZr6PqqQtVtAZUG0D4CIn-rSBQjkzRak19CHFNSNix1rZSmdezykbSfEgQOTDSmPJsC1WLPHCc/s1600/07ccarySheetNobCon.jpg). In that regard I think it is in fact like the PMB and Cary-Yale, but it is a relationship of meaning, not visual similarity: that one horse turns to the other means that it is following the other's lead, as Plato's ignoble horse follows the noble horse in the "charioteer myth" of the Phaedrus. The noble horse, in turn, responds to the voice of the charioteer; hence the absence of reins. The CY horses are similarly noble and ignoble, as indicated by the calm demeanor of one, while the other is agitated (at left in https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwB5dIjFIICXzipz8Onge2AdSd7jlyizsgmilWR9WcidbYPuEHaYnt3wfqLsod4Yc3d6Kh1lzhRApioOEQTlV_EOAQwWaoyb7uMe0uojrtWI3rIS0np-BG-4XR0hqdK0Y4K06PQLvH-hQ/s400/07acaryCaDETSforza.JPG). In the PMB, both horses are noble, corresponding to Plato's description of the chariots of gods and archetypes, which never lose their wings (which can be seen at right in link just given).
The Geoffroy follows the Issy Chariot card (which Dummett says was for a Milanese commissioner, though by a Ferrarese artist) in having different colored horses (at left and right at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBMWdA6QvUyJ4S0CxWxnwOu83LwUfls9Cf_SMqu-Lgcbzwo3xtY3ncFrQVnv6lv1qWVGvvZl76al9Z9pENNch_uDTOD9ijZaSOKhKYLhAQgOTLqgTyOfbdG0zVmvepopzuIuigiQ22loo/s400/07WarsawCYgeofroy.jpg). It is that coloring pattern we have seen repeated in the Noblet, but which cannot be determined in the case of the Cary Sheet. I would say red is for the agitation of passion, white for spirit or nobility. The Vieville humanizes the horses (http://www.tarot-history.com/Jacques-Vieville/images/originaux/8-Chariot-web.jpg); that might even be true in the Cary Sheet, if you look at the eyes and then below the eyes. The French cards follow the type A convention of having a male figure on top. We can't see the Cary Sheet's top, but I expect that it was like the Tarot de Marseille's. The Budapest's is rather unique in having a Cupid at the reins and a male/female couple riding.
The Wheel, like the Tarot de Marseille's, has a crank, an unusual feature, as Dummett notes. But it is like the PMB and BB (http:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCRdFvX3-aoGXjjAj1lVvSlK1-k35HRO73WTWTJ4yW3QWkRlQGLSXhkDnBZsjwmaDI7QUWS4WYWOOyxYDbSqCXssy0vq3H0Xqn3Ib7DahEt01KaN8id3EOzYwTfzZ-5VYUPdX4Ka4u0wa7/s1600/BrerazPMBWheePMBHanged.jpg) in having 4 figures (even if we don't see the other 3; when there are three, it is the bottom one that is omitted). The Anonymous has all four human, and the one on top a rather fierce king (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/33/f7/71/33f771ab277f66acbc242677c7e0e960.jpg). The Budapest sheet 1 gives an ass's head to the one going up, a human head to the one going down, a full ass at the top, a full human at the bottom; I do not see a crank (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh50TXcJvdBFV8U-NweVrX5rQNNpyPuCEWojK31lno-EmlBXbo8aiZCewrgqLzAphZlYH1aFFcjm25LouRjDycFl9ne_EZVap-xFQwhx1iudNcMjaR1_p79FbyaiX31zZS-xhALI6hSEag/s1600/10abnobletItalian.jpg, with the Noblet, which has the crank); it seems to send a message to eschew worldly power. The Vieville has the one on top as a king, the one going down human, and drops the bottom figure (http://www.tarot-history.com/Jacques-Vieville/images/originaux/10-Roue-de-Fortune-web.jpg). The Tarot de Marseille I puts a king at the top and gives the one going up an ass's head and the one going down an ass's tail, like the Budapest sheet. The Tarot de Marseille II will make both the one going up and the one going down into rodent-like animals, although still giving the one going down a human head (at http://www.tarotstudies.com/images/thewheel.jpg, Conver 1761 is the last of four). Here the one on top, while a king, by being given the shape of a lion, resembles an Egyptian sphinx.
Dummett does not try to identify the two cards in the upper left and right corners of the Cary Sheet. In fact it is fairly clear that the card on the upper left is the Hanged Man. This identification was made by Kaplan and demonstrated further in "Andy's Playing Cards" (http://l-pollett.tripod.com/cards69.htm); comparing the Cary Sheet's feather-like fingers to those of the Noblet. Vieville is similar, although he turns it upside down (http://www.tarot-history.com/Jacques-Vieville/images/originaux/12-Pendu-web.jpg) In this feature, the Cary Sheet's image is like no other early Hanged Man. The Tarot de Marseille II, however, is much like the PMB's (left and right at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9O0BTOWp2T7Nq2cg4r1Pr7c0_5VUxRg237NhaPJ4fQvo6LJtdO7NZmA-_JFuC9C-_cXe3z0ZCB74vYRSKKUAxEl1YhQz3sPXX95BlCTLWCmRP7cNpK_ldMC76AFgexPR8aU5SMUvK4x3/s1600/12bChossNobPMB.jpg).
Dummett supposes that the Hanged Man had been at the bottom right of the sheet, but somehow it and the one next to it, which he supposes to have been Death, got torn off and were replaced by pip cards. If you look, you can see that the top border of the Baton card is a little crooked compared with the borders of the triumphs, and it is a bit smaller. That might just be a feature of the suit card, however. Clearly the Hanged Man at least is in the top row.
Kaplan identifies the card at the upper right as Justice. That is a good guess. I cannot imagine that it is Death, Judgment or the World. It might be a Queen. If it is Justice, what we see is unlike any Justice card I know of. No platform or chair is visible in the PMB card (https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/fd/35/04/fd35044d694d92311aaf0b540d74cd62.jpg). The closest is probably the Budapest sheet 1's Justice, but the Queen of Swords, above her, is closer (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0Sd_9fI6H4bge01jb2nTTb_FF5eWisVuehQA6TINX69OhY5PoxvDu3sE91hchvQA3z4FcLNN85HJ8fRU0N7tFuCT1IaJEQFxyYAgCHw-lZ6MV7gD6ZR7011ZPCjUS8qHHxCDhixwr_E/s1600/Budapest1Kaplan274.JPG). The Tarot de Marseille version, with its high backed chair, is not distinctively like any of the early Justices rather than another; but if the platform bottom that we see is part of a raised chair, that would at least support the identification as Justice (examples at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5jIDI-BG1haF1N1Z7liBxnSU06LP5ZYO7GhoLYH7xNikq0ngT1weOHMr3GkHLebLpHjDC1nNks7k2y_fhsQLg2SILZ0h6aVsa7my9GVjh6V8AfAdH-ZDV2d7v5DlbHYGCxIg7REUNj4/s1600/08aNobChossHeronCamoinSM.jpg).
Dummett's comments on the Hermit are in relation to two cards found in the Bibliotheque Nationale by Giselle Lambert. The other is the Queen of Cups, which he relates to the Tarot de Marseille card of that name (p. 331). I have not found a picture of these cards:
One reason for doubt might be where the cards were found, in Paris. It is true that many books from Pavia and Milan were taken to Paris during the French occuptation. But were these cards found in one of those? That needs to be explored. The (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM0Sd_9fI6H4bge01jb2nTTb_FF5eWisVuehQA6TINX69OhY5PoxvDu3sE91hchvQA3z4FcLNN85HJ8fRU0N7tFuCT1IaJEQFxyYAgCHw-lZ6MV7gD6ZR7011ZPCjUS8qHHxCDhixwr_E/s1600/Budapest1Kaplan274.JPG); Dummett says elsewhere that Ferrara was probably the first to put numbers on its cards, and Milan apparently the last. There are no numbers on any of these Cary Sheet cards. However the Metropolitan/Budapest Hermit might well have been copied from an earlier card without numbers. The Anonymous Parisian, in turn, is influenced by the Metrapolitan (http://cards.old.no/1557-geofroy/tdp/09.jpg). The PMB Hermit also has the staff, although also a hat. All the other early cards have either nothing or crutches.The closest link is to the card in Paris, to be sure, followed by the Metropolitan/Budapest; we don't know what the Cary Sheet had.Nel 1985 la signora Gisèle Lambert della Bibliothèque Nationale di Parigi vi scoprì una coppia di tarocchi, stampati da matrici di legno, della fine del Quattrocento 6. Le due carte, ovviamente dello stesso mazzo, sono l’Eremita e la Regina di Coppe, fatto che esclude un confronto diretto con il foglio Cary. L’Eremita è rappresentato come un vecchio barbuto a capo scoperto, la testa inclinata a destra, che porta un mantello sopra un abito lungo, una borsa sospesa alla cintura; egli avanza da sinistra a destra, con un bastone nella mano destra e una lanterna nella mano sinistra. Questa carta non ha alcuna somiglianza con le carte corrispondenti del Tarocco bolognese, delle Minchiate o del foglio Rosenwald. Rassomiglia alquanto a quella del foglio antico ferrarese, ma ne differisce per la mancanza del numero. La si può ritenere antenata della carta del Tarocco di Marsiglia.
Lo stesso vale per la Regina di Coppe. Una dama incoronata è seduta su una sedia a schienale alto simile a quella della Temperanza del foglio Cary. Girata a destra, ella tiene un grande calice sul ginocchio destro. La carta rassomiglia anche a quella del Tarocco di Marsiglia. In quel modello, la Regina regge nella mano sinistra una corta spada, che manca nella carta della Bibliothèque Nationale, laddove la Regina tiene la coppa con entrambe le mani. Ma riguardo alla posizione della coppa e alla sua forma, la carta quattrocentesca e quella del Tarocco di Marsiglia coincidono esattamente: su entrambe le carte, la grande coppa sferica scanalata è coperta e ha una base esagonale. Non c’è motivo per dubitare che queste due carte provengano da un mazzo milanese degli ultimi due decenni del XV secolo.
(In 1985, Mme. Gisèle Lambert of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris discovered a couple of tarot cards, printed by woodblock at the end of the Quattrocento 6. The two cards, from the same deck, are the Hermit and the Queen of Cups, which of course exclude a direct comparison with the Cary sheet. The Hermit is depicted as a bearded, bareheaded old man, his head tilted to the right, wearing a coat over a long robe, a bag suspended from the belt; he progresses from left to right, with a stick in his right hand and a lantern in his left hand. This card has no similarity with the matching cards of the Tarot of Bologna, the Minchiate or Rosenwald sheet. It somewhat resembles that of the old sheet of Ferrara, but differs because of the lack of numbers. This can be considered the ancestor of the card of the Tarot of Marseilles.
The same goes for the Queen of Cups. A crowned lady is sitting on a high back chair similar to that of Temperance of the Cary sheet. Turned to the right, she holds a large cup on her right knee. The card also resembles that of the Tarot of Marseilles. In that model, the Queen holds a short sword in her left hand, which is missing in the card of the Bibliothèque Nationale, where the Queen holds the cup with both hands. But disregarding the position of the cup and its form, the fifteenth-century card and that of the Tarot of Marseilles coincide exactly, on both cards, the large spherical fluted cup is covered and has a hexagonal base. There is no reason to doubt that these two cards come from a Milanese deck of the last two decades of the fifteenth century.
Definitely missing among the Cary Sheet triumphs are Death, Judgment, and World. These were surely there, as they are in every tarot deck. However since they have Milanese equivalents, it is worth comparing them to the Tarot de Marseille. Death is similar to the PMB in that he is standing, unlike other Deaths who are on horseback. In the Victoria and Albert and "Lombardy I", he exchanges the bow for a scythe. For the people on the ground, we would have to go to the CY; the Charles VI and the Rosenwald also have them. Angel/Judgment is like many early cards, starting with the CY. The practice of having precisely 3 figures on the ground seems to be Milanese. The Tarot de Marseille World is like the Sforza Castle card only.
So to summarize this examination, in relation to other early cards, we have, for the T de M:
Fool: closest match clearly to PMB and Cary Sheet
Bagato: closest match to PMB, less so to Cary Sheet
Popess: closest match to PMB; Cary sheet unclear
Empress: closest to PMB and Cary Sheet
Emperor: closest to PMB and Cary Sheet
Pope: closest to Budapest, because of staff
Love: closest to PMB and Cary Sheet
Chariot: closest to PMB and Cary Sheet
Justice: undetermined, fairly standard
Hermit: closest to Parisian card, then Budapest, then PMB; Cary Sheet absent
Wheel: closest to Budapest in animals, Cary Sheet in crank. PMB and Cary Sheet for people
Fortitude: closest to CY and Cary Sheet
Hanged Man: TdM I closest to Cary Sheet and Budapest, TdM II closest to PMB
Death: closest to Budapest, then PMB
Temperance: similar to PMB as standing, but has wings. Cary Sheet is conventional.
Devil: closest to Cary Sheet, then Budapest. No PMB.
Tower: closest to Cary Sheet but also Budapest. No PMB.
Star: closest to Cary Sheet. Budapest similar to PMB.
Moon: closest to Cary Sheet. Budapest similar to PMB.
Sun: closest to Cary Sheet and PMB.
Judgment: standard. No Cary Sheet.
World: not close to anything except Sforza Castle. No Cary Sheet.
I think we can see a pattern. There is an almost direct line from the PMB to the Cary Sheet, except that sometimes the Budapest is closer. But the Budapest has many similarities to the PMB. The problem is that we don't know what the relevant B cards looked like before the Budapest, so we can't tell if the Budapest is traditional B or a B influenced by Milan.
Another element that Dummett considers is the layout on the sheet. He says (p. 330):
This arrangement does correspond to the C order in some places, most distinctively in having Temperance just before Devil. But I think he is wrong that the Hanged Man was originally next to Temperance on the other side; also, the card at the top right is probably Justice, as Kaplan surmises. So we have:Sebbene i trionfi non siano disposti in sequenza completa, parecchi gruppi compaiono nell’ordine corretto, da destra a sinistra e, quindi, il fatto che la Temperanza compaia alla destra del Diavolo e della Torre suggerisce un ordine di tipo C. Un esame accurato del foglio rivela che le due carte numerali non erano originariamente dello stesso foglio, ma sono state aggiunte da un possessore precedente, probabilmente al posto della Morte e dell'Impiccato; dovevano essere tagliate da un altro foglio, ora andato perduto, contenente carte dei semi.
(Although the triumphs are not arranged in a complete sequence, several groups appear in the correct order, from left to right and, therefore, the fact that Temperance appears to the right of the Devil and the Tower suggests an order of type C. A careful examination of the sheet reveals that the two pip cards were not originally on the same worksheet, but have been added by a previous owner, probably in place of Death and the Hanged Man; they must have been cut from another sheet, now lost, containing suit cards.)
top row: Justice, Love, Chariot, Wheel, Hanged Man.
Second: Popess -Empress-Emperor-Pope-Fortitude.
Third: Fool, Bateleur, Star, Moon, Sun.
Bottom: Temperance, Devil, Tower.
As you can see, there are strings of from 2 to 4 cards that correspond to the C order. The virtues do not fit, except for Temperance. If we put the strings together, we would have:
Fool, Bateleur, // Popess, Empress, Emperor, Pope, Fortitude, // Justice, Love, Chariot, Wheel, Hanged Man, // Temperance, Devil, Tower, // Star, Moon, Sun.
While the position of Temperance indicates C order, the order as a whole is not exactly the same as any of the lists. Dummett's three sections of the sequence are all intact, but two virtues at opposite ends of their line are out of C order. Those two virtues are in an A order although in the wrong place in the sequence. Love and Chariot go next to each other, above one virtue, in the B order. To me this suggests a further wrinkle in the question of whether A, B, or C is the original one: the original Milan order of trumps might not correspond to any existing list. Either that or the layout at the ends didn't go in proper sequence.
(For reference:
A: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnSEWZKJHsXEES3yu5FtdUTPPD5V5j1P7ULWJ7jAHSp-rxX48ngrPPIPJksce2kLKxLB7CgikFCVKhYHX2CBJixmVStiim41KbwrCN9Tc5FH1qTTtkw1VcnLMe2Fy6ij-HVr2rpxyN3k/s600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-03+at+3.47.35+PM.png
B: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2VfUWhZDIlgTINCN6jc0TF_KdeDjZHa-bsXQy5lH3jtsVtLlRyG-AhxNx7jpuClc53EnAHbrO_tB977RStdyhI5yhhOH1u_oo7hFk3KallZXXeh-k9N5Rkvxr0xlR-axZcVDz2SpE7Wo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-03+at+3.47.56+PM.png
C: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7y-xy4UFBoHJpGZPyDo5F2ZeTtQPTCZzfApa9qVDYB4VkbwAC3kn4I_BukZYQ85TG0THsaXiDq710oJM_tB1nI6SLjwdOJEk8ySzrfqXaQTXQZnWEJGd66DAEGArneBnq5keY8sCEdk/s800/westernorders2.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQp-glovdoYEeFpSYqP-G99gJ0RqrWvHcsDC0omgsfw39Mva6XMX4udQEOkh9pxq8gcUwhivhv3RHAK1gN0DfE3YKFyrKD0OT_6xr8fuzLueoDCLJbGOYhaYsLr56HsiEyWi7j_7QTACI/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-11-03+at+3.48.16+PM.png
Dummett's conclusion (p. 331f):
Yes, it is clear that the Tarot de Marseille is descended from the Cary Sheet and before it, the PMB. It is in the Milanese line of descent. But there are other influences: the PMB as opposed to the Cary Sheet, and perhaps cards from other regions. Some attributes on the Tarot de Marseille are ones that I see earliest on the "Mantegna" cards, which are Italian, c. 1465 or earlier: the dog on the Fool card, the four animals on the World, the crossed legs on the Emperor. Also, while there are Milanese elements in the Cary Sheet, there are other influences as well. We might wonder if the Cary Sheet is even Italian. But it is perfectly natural that card makers should borrow from cards elsewhere in constructing new decks, even decks from other regions. They were a mobile lot, as Dummett has established in the case of France. And cards traveled via the merchants even more easily than card makers.È chiaro, quindi, che ci troviamo di fronte all’antenato del Tarocco di Marsiglia, senza scritte e nemmeno numerali. Elementi secondari — il viso pieno sulla Luna, il viso sul torso del [end of 331] Diavolo — suggeriscono che la versione variante del Tarocco di Marsiglia rimase più fedele all’originale della sua versione definitiva; c’è stata comunque una notevole evoluzione dal prototipo milanese alla versione finale.
(It is clear, therefore, that we are faced with the ancestor of the Tarot of Marseilles, even without written numerals. Secondary elements - full face on the moon, the face on the torso of the [end of 331] Devil - suggest that the variant version of the Tarot of Marseilles remained faithful to the original of the final version; There was, however, a significant evolution from the Milanese prototype to the final version,)
There are many CY/PMB elements in the Cary Sheet (the flower pattern in the suits, the fool's staff and leggings, the Bagatto shown alone with a stick and no jester's costume, the Pope/Popess's staff, Love's couple, the Chariot's horses (I think), the Hermit's staff, the child on the Sun, the three persons of Judgment; but many elements are not: Temperance's chair, the Fool's and Bagatto's hats, the Bagatto's shoes (we can't forget them!), the odd elements in the Hanged Man and Justice, and most of the Star, Moon, and Sun. The Star and Moon are particularly suspicious, because they are so far from the PMB and so close to the Tarot de Marseille. But the other elements, plus ways in which the Tarot de Marseille reflects the PMB, Brera-Brambilla, smf Sforza Castle rather than the Cary Sheet (e,g, the Aces, suit portrayals, Death, Judgment, World) make the Cary Sheet clearly in a line of development from the early Milan cards to the Tarot de Marseille.
There is also the issue of which Tarot de Marseille, I or II. Dummett addresses this issue in chapter 16 (p. 377):
These are good points, to which I would add the Pope's crozier, the Hanged Man's fingers, the World card's cloak, and possibly a male-female pair on the Sun card (all Noblet, all but the Sun also Vieville).Tre dettagli conferiscono probabilità all’ipotesi che la sua variante rappresentasse uno stadio di sviluppo più antico rispetto alla versione definitiva. (1) Sul foglio Gary la Luna ha un viso pieno e in tutto il resto assomiglia moltissimo alla carta del Tarocco di Marsiglia. (2) Come nella variante del modello francese la figura che rappresenta il Mondo nella carta del Castello Sforzesco ha la gamba sinistra piegata, ma non incrociata dietro alla destra. (3) Sul foglio Cary, il Diavolo, sebbene del tutto diverso da tutte le versioni del Tarocco di Marsiglia, ha un volto sullo stomaco. La versione variante rappresenta cosi la penultima fase nell’evoluzione del modello. Per quanto riguarda gli stadi precedenti, dobbiamo tirare a indovinare.
(Three details confer probability to the hypothesis that the variant represented a stage of development that is older than the final version. (1) On the Cary sheet the Moon has a full face and throughout the rest of the card looks a lot like the Tarot of Marseilles. (2) As in the French variant of the figure representing the World, in the Sforza Castle card, it has its left leg bent, but not crossed over the right. (3) On the Cary sheet, the Devil, although completely different from all versions of the Tarot of Marseilles, has a face on its stomach. The variant version is thus the penultimate stage in the evolution of the model. As for the previous stages, we have to guess.
He continues, immediately following in chapter 16 (p. 377f):
It is hard to see how one could misinterpret the Cary Sheet Temperance's chair as wings. More likely it is a deliberate change, although one that could have been suggested by the Empress's chair. Justice's wings in the Noblet could well be a misinterpretation, depending on what the Cary Sheet Justice's chair looked like. Or there was an intermediate that looked like the TdM II, which Noblet and Vieville misinterpreted.E probabile che le ali della Temperanza nel trionfo XIHI siano il risultato di un’errata interpretazione dello scranno a schienale alto su cui essa originariamente sedeva. Sul foglio Cary, lo [end of 377] schienale del sedile è diritto; ma l’impera tri ce siede su un sedile esattamente analogo, con un alto schienale arrotondato, come quello su cui siede la Giustizia nel Tarocco di Marsiglia, e abbiamo più di un esempio di trasformazioni settecentesche del suo schienale in ali. È facile comprendere tali errori. Le matrici in legno erano costose e venivano tramandate da un fabbricante al successore; quando erano troppo consunte per essere riutilizzate, le si copiava, interpretando come meglio si poteva i dettagli confusi.
(It is likely that the wings of Temperance in triumph XIIII are the result of a misinterpretation of the high-backed bench on which it originally sat. On the Cary sheet, the [end of 377] seat back is straight; but the Empress sits on a seat exactly similar, with a high rounded back, like the one on which Justice sits in the Tarot of Marseilles, and we have more of an example of eighteenth-century transformations of its back into wings. It is easy to understand such errors. The wood matrices were expensive and were handed down from one manufacturer to his successor; when they were too worn to be used again, they were copied, reproducing as best he could the confused details.
It is also clear that the Cary Sheet and other Milanese cards influenced the non-TdM cards of France but to a lesser extent. Here there is more influence from elsewhere in Italy. Dummett has a theory about that, which I will get to in a later post.
COULD THE CARY SHEET BE FRENCH OR BURGUNDIAN?
It is clear that the Cary Sheet cards have some relationship to the Tarot de Marseille and some relationship to the early hand-painted Milanese cards. But we still haven't formed an idea abut whether the relationship to France or Burgundy is before or after the Cary Sheet. Dummett is clear that changes between the Cary Sheet and the Tarot de Marseille I could be attributed to France (p. 378):
But what about tarot cards based on the PMB and other Italian cards, made in France with changes there, and that the Cary Sheet is a product of these designs?Alcuni cambiamenti nel modello furono, ovviamente, innovazioni francesi, come l’alterazione nella posizione e stile della coppa retta dal Cavaliere di Coppe, e raggiunta dei cani al trionfo XVin (ta Luna). Comunque, l’antenato del Tarocco di Marsiglia deve essere stato introdotto in Francia con le prime carte da tarocchi che vi si diffusero e i fabbricanti francesi cominciarono immediatamente a produrre mazzi di tarocchi in proprio.
(Some changes in the model were, of course, French innovations, such as the alteration in the position and style of the straight cup of the Knight of Cups, and in triumph XVIII (The Moon). of the dogs. However, the ancestor of the Tarot of Marseilles must have been introduced into France with the first tarot cards, which will spread, and French manufacturers will immediately began to produce tarot decks on their own.)
Against this, one could say, well, where is the evidence? Well, one is the Marcello letter of 1449. He had been given a triumph deck, which was sending with this letter to "Isabella Queen of Lorraine". who was then near Angers, capital of Anjou in western France. Her husband, the Duke of Anjou, rules there and in Provence, which therefore is also her realm. He does not see any need to explain this game, as opposed to the "new kind of triumphs" that is his real prize (the Marziano deck); so it appears that at least in this court, either inin Provence or Anjou or both, they knew the game and the deck.
There are also cards that suggest a French connection. The Goldschmidt cards are classified by Dummett as Milanese and do seem Milan-related, with its king reaching for a star (as in the second-artist PMB). But there are strong suggestions of France on the Goldschmidt cards: one of the cards is a stylized dolphin, as in the coat of arms of the Dauphin and the province of Daupine; also, there is the lady on the kneeler, suggesting Charlotte of Savoy during her marriage to Louis XI. And there is a fleur de lys on the card with the bishop. If Joan of Arc's Dauphin, Charles VII, is too early (1420s), there is his son, the future Louis XI, who was dauphin from the time of Charles' coronation in 1429 until 1461; there is also that king's son, the future Charles VIII, who was Dauphin 1470-1484. The next Dauphin was Charles VIIII's son Francis, born in 1497, died in infancy. Then there was not another one until 1518, the eldest son of Francis I (Wikipedia article on Dauphin). But there were ample occasions before then for giving a present to a dauphin, an ex-dauphin, or a dauphin's wife. Lothar Teikemeier tells me that these cards were dated by "paper research" to the mid-15th century by the Doermer Institute of Switzerland, as reported by Dorfman. I don't know what the range of error of the test was.
Between the imagery of PMB and the Cary Sheet, one indication of possible French or Burgundian influence is the droplets like on the Cary Sheet Tower card is in a depiction of hailstones, in a c.1330 Norman-French series of illuminations on the events of the Apocalypse.
There is one other possibility, namely, the Star, Moon, Sun sequence, only because these are so different from any other early cards in Italy. I will deal with that at the end of this post.
These mostly speak for French influence. For Burgundy, there is much less. That the tarot might have been at the Burgundian court in Brussels is suggested by the tarot-like images in the art of Hieronymus Bosch. However these suggestions might simply be the result of exchanges between artists in Italy and Flanders. Decks of cards are like model books, sources of new and different imagery. Another Burgundian connection is that the future Louis XI was there, doing a lot of hunting while waiting for his father to die, in the period right before his accession in 1461.
By the same token, any similarities in painting and clothing styles, including the globes on the Tower card, to northern art can easily be explained. There were numerous artistic connections between France, Burgundy, and the Italian courts during the second half of the 15th century. Musicians from the north were extremely popular and competed for among the courts. Painters came to Italy and went to Flanders, including one sent by Bianca Maria Sforza in 1461. Surely, for the courts, the arts exchanged would likely not have excluded allegorical cards, including the "Mantegna" (for the dog and the crossed legs). And it would have gone both ways. In style the Cary Sheet might be Italian simply because it had absorbed the best of Burgundian advances by then, as shown at that time by Leonardo, Raphael, etc. And when they wanted to portray somethng exotic, they had imagery from the North to draw on. But the only exotic dresser I see in the Cary Sheet is the Bagatto, who probably is meant that way.
It is impossible to say whether cheap printed cards were popular in France or Burgundy during the time in question. But by 20 years before the first written documentation (the 15-20 year lag that Dummett seems to endorse), tarot cards might have started appearing in France or Burgundy (i.e. 15-20 years before 1505). It may well be that returning French soldiers were the ones that created a mass demand. But why them and not returning German soldiers a couple of decades later? It may have already existed, to some extent. (On the 15-20 lag, I mean the dating of tarot in Milan to 1428 in Milan, although the earliest evidence is 1440, and the dating in Bologna to 1435, although the earliest reference is 1459, if we exclude the "Bolognese merchant" who sold tarot in Ferrara in 1442. I checked Dummett's later work with McLeod, 2004, to see if he changed his mind. He did: he dates Milan to 1425 (vol. 1, p. 1), and the CY to c. 1441. For Bologna and most other places he doesn't say anything about earliest dates; that may be because this book is concerned to document known games rather than making inferences to what is not documented.
Even while thinking it plausible that tarot was known in the North in the last third or so of the 15th century, I am not proposing that the Cary Sheet or the early Sforza Castle cards are French or Burgundian. There are other reasons for thinking the Cary Sheet is Italian, having to do with the meanings of these cards, not overt meanings, but non-obvious ones, that are far more likely to have arisen in Italy than in France or Burgundy.
EGYPTOMANIA IN ITALY BUT NOT FRANCE OR BURGUNDY
One consideration is Egyptianate imagery that I seem to find in the sheet; the courts of Italy but not France of Burgundy were fascinated by Egypt and its "hieroglyphs" during the 15th century. as interpreted by Plutarch, Horappolo, and others. France had not yet been infected with this craze.
Yes, Rome is not Milan. But there are several connections. For one thing, in Borgia, the Sforza finally had their man in the Vatican (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI). Relations between Milan and the Vatican were excellent in this period. For another, the Pinturicchio fresco series seems to have influenced a poem written in Milan somewhat later, c. 1496-98, the Antiquarie prospetiche romane, which describes the Meta Romuli (see http://roma.andreapollett.com/S6/roma2-05e.htm) as being encrusted in "fine gems," just as Pinturicchio painted it (Curran, The Egyptian Renaissance: The Afterlife of Ancient Egypt in Early Modern Italy, p. 117). The author of the poem is presumed to be an associate of the Milanese painter Bramante (Curran p. 68). Milan had long been a center of Egyptomania. A notable example is the Florentine Sculptor-Architect Filarete, who designed public works for Francesco Sforza and authored a new design for the city, dubbed Sforzinda. His Crucifixion of St. Peter (completed 1445) shows several pyramids in Rome, including the Meta Romuli. Curran continues:
Curran's Fairbarn reference is The North Italian Album: Designs by a Renissance Artisan (London Azimuth Edtions 2006), pp. 42-43, fig. 32, and p. 5.Filarete's rendition of the Meta Romuli influenced a number of future renditions of the monument, including a colored drawing in the so-called North Italian Album of architectural and antiquarian drawings now preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum in London. The drawings in this album reflect the influence of Filarete's later work in Milan, as well as the subsequent work of Donato Bramante in that city, in the latter part of the fifteenth century. On the sheet representing the Meta Romuli, the monument is transformed into a stepped, conical structure with rows of richly ornamented arches, and topped by a small tempietto. In a recent study, Lynda Fairbarn has associated this later design with a description of the pyramid in the Antiquarie rospetiche romane (circa 1496-98), a poetic description of Roman antiquities by an anonymous Milanese "perspectivist" who is assumed to be a close associate of Bramante.
The idea of the "stepped, conical structure" that Curran mentions is reminiscent of the the objects strapped to the backs of both the Cary Sheet Fool and Bagato. These might have been inspired by drawings of the step pyramids at Saqqara, near Cairo. They also suggest "Hermes Trismegistus", i.e. "Hermes Thrice Great", the assumed author of the Corpus Hermeticum in its original Egyptian version (as opposed to the Greek version that Ficino translated, which he knew very well was of the Roman period).
Egyptomania was not only virulent in Rome and Milan. The Emperor, not to be outdone by Borgia, whose family tree showed him to be a descendant of Osiris, had his genealogy traced to Osiris as well. And there
is Durer's famous
portrait of him surrounded by "hieroglyphs" suggesting his personal
attributes. The Emperor, of course, had married a Sforza. Egypt's popularity in Venice is indicated by the publication in 1499 of the Hypnoerotomachia, a work filled with Egyptianisms. Egyptomania is suggested in other cards of the Cary Sheet. One the Moon card, with its crocodiles lying next to a pool (one with something in its mouth), its two obelisk-like things in the background (not the towers, but the plant-like things behind them, but which are too distant to be plants), and the Greek-style temple between them. Pools were an important feature of Egyptian temple complexes, emulated by Romans such as Hadrian back home.
The Star card also may also have some Egyptianisms. First, there is the mountain on one side, compared to the hill on the other. This suggests the two sources of the Nile: the White Nile, with its nutrients gathered from a slow journey through hills, and the Blue Nile, with its volume in the summer owing to the rains in Ethiopia. The one is a handy symbol for the body, of which one should take care, and the other of the spirit. (According to de Desroches-Noblecourt, the two jugs
The star-goddess in Egypt was of course Sothis, as the Greeks called her, whose rising was at the same time of year that Aquarius set (image of Sothis below from a Roman-era temple in Egypt, probably accessible in the 15th century).
In the Dendera Zodiacs, Sothis was a cow placed at the beginning of the year. A goddess pouring out of two vases came right after, with a plant on her head.
Yet the image of Aquarius was a male pouring from two jars( below, middle). There was also the plant-capped, androgynous Hapi, also deities of the Nile.
In the Renaissance, and only then, Aquarius stopped being a beefy male pouring from one jug and became an androgynous figure pouring from two.
I do not find much Egyptomania north of Italy, outside the Emperor's court. My only example is a horoscope from Troyes, 1496. It is notable for its two-jugged (although masculine) Aquarius, its crayfish Cancer, and its male and female Gemini (ultimately derived, I think, from the Dendera image, which had them as Shu and Tefnet, twin children of the Sun). These are all of course features that appeared in the tarot, not only the 17th century "Marseille" style but also, for its Gemini, in the earlier Sforza Castle Sun card (Kaplan vol. 2 p. 296). The year 1496 is of course also the same time as the postulated invention of the Cary Sheet. I am not sure what was happening in Troyes then, other than being part of France rather than of Burgundy or the English domains.
To me it is the Egyptianate flavor shown in the Cary Sheet Fool, Bagato, Popess, Star, and Moon, that identifies it particularly with Italy c. 1500, a flavor that continues in the Noblet Sun.
DEATH THROUGH SUN AS A NARRATIVE FROM PLUTARCH
Another consideration is that the only way I can make sense of the last part of the Cary Sheet's imagery in its specific imagery is in terms of certain works known primarily in Milan and Florence, a Middle Platonic vision of the life of the soul (for which see my essay at http://www.associazioneletarot.it/page.aspx?id=454). It especially fits Death, Temperance, the Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, and Sun, in that order, of which Devil through Sun is probably the most original part of the Cary Sheet, not known before. The most essential of these philosophical writings, Plutarch's "On the Face in the Orb of the Moon", was not known in France and Burgundy at that time. I have argued for these interpretations at the above link. Essentially, it involves the soul's upward journey after death, in which the first task is to become free of earthly addictions and purify one's aerial body (Temperance card), then avoid the demons of the air (Devil card), purify further through the region of Fire (Fire card), wash oneself of mortality and annoint oneself with immortality (Star card), avoid more demons and find the passage to the other side of the Moon (Moon card), and ascend to the Sun (Sun card). To be sure, the average player would not have cared; but these things probably came from the courts down.
Speculative as they may be, these are reasons for supposing a definite Italian provenance for the Cary Sheet imagery that does not stem from Italian tarot cards.
DUMMETT ON THE TOWER CARD
Dummett gives one more argument that the Tarot de Marseille stems from Milan, based on the imagery of the Tarot de Marseille and Cary Sheet Tower cards. I don't think it is a very good argument. But I give it for completeness, and because I think there is the possibility of a better argument, based on the same cards, although I don't know whether it suggests French or Italian provenance. Dummett's is in Chapter 18, p. 425:
There are numerous problems with this argument. The association of lightning with the card was not original with the Tarot de Marseille; even the "Steele Sermon" called it "La Sagitta", "the Arrow", i.e. lightning, and it is quite visible on the Charles VI card (at left at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lepEiSbyMAhcENxl24rqDlqeVxPu1ic27YbQmveEHVLamxM-wBxWyZ3IQibeuG8PIhvmwyHysVxUN_gUVyVNZp7EFePbET9jMhlBAi7C4elWq59S0g-Va7Yrqe3T2iuPxvs0Z7o73XWG/s1600/16CharRothsch.jpg). Also, the tower on the Sforza Castle is itself part of a fortress, not a free-standing tower. And already the Bolognese card shows men falling (previous link, at right). Nor does it seem that the French would want to memorialize God's warning to them of His displeasure at their occupation of Milan. Nor is the tower on the card collapsing; It is just losing its top.Il disegno bolognese e quelli ‘Carlo VI’ e Rosenwald, tuttavia, non suggeriscono che l’edificio fosse in origine una torre, ma piuttosto una fortezza; né, a giudicare da queste carte, pare che il fulmine fosse la causa originaria della deflagrazione. Si è portati a supporre che il disegno del Tarocco di Marsiglia derivi da un adattamento di uno precedente, per ragioni locali. Nel 1521, quando i Francesi erano ancora in possesso di Milano, una delle torri del Castello Sforzesco, eretta sotto il duca Francesco Sforza, crollò uccidendo molti soldati francesi. Comunemente si credette che fosse stata colpita da un fulmine a del sereno; il prodigio preannuncio davvero la rapida e definitiva espulsione dei Francesi dalla città.
(The designs of Bologna, the 'Charles VI', and the Rosenwald, however, do not suggest that the building was originally a tower, but rather a fortress; nor, to judge by these cards, does it seem that lightning was the original cause of the explosion. One would assume that the design of the Tarot of Marseilles is derived from an adaptation of a previous one, for local reasons. In 1521, when the French were still in possession of Milan, one of the towers of the Castello Sforzesco, built under Duke Francesco Sforza, collapsed, killing many French soldiers. It was commonly believed that it had been struck by lightning out of the blue [fulmine a del sereno, out of the serene. a colloquial expression for “unexpectedly”]; the prodigy foreshadowing the really quick and final expulsion of the French from the city.
There are much better predecessors of the Tarot de Marseille than the one in this incident, most notably the Budapest sheet 2 card (2nd from left below; the Cary Sheet is at far left; on the right are the Noblet and the Vieville). That it reflects a 15th century design is shown by an illumination to a Lydgate Fall of Princes, with the same devil inside the tower, and people falling. It is another odd coincidence. There are no little globes and the tower suggests a minaret, the Turks no doubt being seen as the contemporary equivalent of Nimrod.
Is this illumination in a French or an English book, and from when in the 15th century? Google gives the answer: It's p. 7 of Bodley 263, c. 1450, English (https://archive.org/details/fallofprincesedi04lydguoft; click on the picture). The book I scanned the colored image from had it reversed. So on the Lydgate, as in the Tarot de Marseille image, the person or persons falling is on the left side of the pciture, the side we can't see on the Cary Sheet.
There are two other tarot-like illuminations to Fall of Princes, both English. On http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/06/princes-be-good.html, if you scroll down you will see a man, Sardanapolus, jumping off a tower
Then on another site there is "Sardanapolus spinning", rather like the Charles VI/Bolognese Sun card, at http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/illmanus/harlmanucoll/s/011hrl000001766u00116000.html. The image by itself is at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/433753007833747335/.
According to the British Museum commentator, Sardanapous is described as spending
time spinning wool with his concubines. The illumination is in Harley
1766, Eng;osj c. 1450-1460. The other web-page says he is described as
jumping from the doorway of his palace into the burning pile of his
riches. The manuscript number for that one is not given on the web-page, either of them, but there is a date of c. 1455. It seems likely to me that they are from the same manuscript.
Sardanapolus is an ancient king of Assyria often given in medieval manuscripts as the antitype of Prudence (my source: Canzone delle Virtu e Delle Scienze di Bartolomeo di Bartoli da Bologna: Texto Inedito del Seolo XIV Tratto dal Ms. Originale dei Museo Condé ed illustrato a cura di Leone Dorez, pp. 120-125). He had not crossed my mind as a reference for two cards, but there he is.
I checked to see if there is any reference in Lydgate's text to a devil in Nimrod's tower. There isn't. That is the illuminator's addition. I also checked to see if Sardanapalus is described as spinning or falling. Yes to the first, no to the second. At the beginning of the tale, that is Saranapalus's first scandalous act (lines 2243-2247, Bergen edition p. 263) followed by my translation:
However that is not why Sardanapalus meets his sad end. He devotes his life to more feminine things like cooking, getting drunk, and other sensual pleasures. Brothels are his favorite places, among the women. But the illuminator doesn't illustrate this part. Then (lines 2290-2296)
I looked up the circumstances in which Lydgate wrote the poem. He did it for Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of the famous warrior-king Henry V, now deceased, and thus uncle to the young and incompetent Henry VI, starting in 1431 and ending in 1439. It is Duke Humphrey who has the connections to Italy. Jennifer Summit writes ("Stable in Study: Lydgate's Fall of Princes and Duke Humphrey's Library", in John Lydgate: Poetry, Culture and Lancastrian England, ed. by Larry Scanlon and James Simpson, p. 208):
It would have been fortuitous if Castiglione happened to bring back a tarot deck to England in 1439, especially since the Bolognese deck known later had the necessary imagery for the two illuminations. If not, there would be more opportunities. Through Castiglione and his secretary, a Milanese named Rolando Tolenti (also of the Barzizzas' school in Milan), Humphrey becomes the chief sponsor of Pier Candido Decembrio's translation of Plato's Republic (p. 54). Decembrio also advises him on what works he should add to his library. The manuscripts are sent via the Borromei, an Italian banking family operating in Florence, Milan, and Venice who also have a branch in London (http://www.queenmaryhistoricalresearch.org/roundhouse/default.aspx. and Weiss p. 59). By the early 1440s, aspiring English humanists are returning home from Padua, Bologna, Ferrara, Rome, and Florence. Weiss mentions humanist book collector Andrew Holes, who returns in 1444 after 9 years in Italy, including a year and half in Florence, 1439-1441 (p. 78: "The Florentine visit proved particularly congenial"). There are numerous other lesser lights as well as papal emissaries, English and Italian, back and forth. Humphrey is connected to most of them. If he wanted new sources of images, all he had to do was ask.
Lydgate manuscripts also had illustrations of the Wheel of Fortune, as posted by MJ Hurst at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=937&p=13701&hilit=Lydgate#p13691. But Wheels of Fortune were ubiquitous in medieval literature. Hurst also posts a picture of a man, intended to be the young Oedipus, hanging upside down, his foot tied to a rope. but without his legs crossed over each other in the characteristic tarot manner. Whether the Oedipus image is irrelevant, as Hurst maintains, is debatable, if a tarot pack merely functioned as a model-book. But the resemblance is not great.
So it is quite possible that the Tower and the Charles VI Sun card image were already around in 1440s Italy. Since the woman with the distaff is never on a Milanese card, it would not likely be from there, but they quite possibly could have been inspired by a pack from elsewhere, such as Bologna or Florence.
Sardanapolus is an ancient king of Assyria often given in medieval manuscripts as the antitype of Prudence (my source: Canzone delle Virtu e Delle Scienze di Bartolomeo di Bartoli da Bologna: Texto Inedito del Seolo XIV Tratto dal Ms. Originale dei Museo Condé ed illustrato a cura di Leone Dorez, pp. 120-125). He had not crossed my mind as a reference for two cards, but there he is.
I checked to see if there is any reference in Lydgate's text to a devil in Nimrod's tower. There isn't. That is the illuminator's addition. I also checked to see if Sardanapalus is described as spinning or falling. Yes to the first, no to the second. At the beginning of the tale, that is Saranapalus's first scandalous act (lines 2243-2247, Bergen edition p. 263) followed by my translation:
To vicious lust his liff he dede enclyne;"Rokke" means "distaff", the editor's glossary says.
Mong Assirians, whan he his regne gan,
Off fals vsage he was so femynyne,
That among women vppon the rokke he span,
In ther habite disguisid from a man.
And off froward flesshl insolence,
Off alle men he fledde the presence.
(To vicious lust his life he did incline;
Among Assyrians, when he his reign gained,
Of false usage he was so feminine,
That among women upon the distaff he spun,
In their clothing disguised from [appearing as] a man.
And of froward fleshly insolence
Of all men he fled the presence.)
However that is not why Sardanapalus meets his sad end. He devotes his life to more feminine things like cooking, getting drunk, and other sensual pleasures. Brothels are his favorite places, among the women. But the illuminator doesn't illustrate this part. Then (lines 2290-2296)
The result is that Sardanapalus flees to his castle and has all his treasures put in a pile with coal and logs, and when the fire is hot enough, jumps in:But, as Bochas list to putte in mynde,
Whan Arbachus, a prynce off gret renoun,
Sauh off this kyng the flesshli lustis blyne,
Made with the people off that regeoun
Ageyn[e]st hym a coniuracioun,
And to hym sente, for his mysgouernanaunce,
Off hih disdeyn a ful pleyn diffiaunce.
(But, as Boccaccio puts in our mind,
When Arbachus, a prince of great renown,
Saw of this king the fleshly lust blind,
Made with the people of that region
Against him a conjuration,
And to him sent, for his misgovernance,
Of his disdain a full plain defiance.)
Although his jumping from a tower is not in the text, the c. 1450-1460 illumination makes it appear that way.Into the fir furiousli he ran.
This tryumphe Saranapallus wan,
With fir consumyd for his fynal meede,
Brent al to asshes among the coles rede.
(Into the fire furiously he ran.
This triumph Sardanapallus won,
With fire consumed for his final deed,
Burned all to ashes among the red coals.)
I looked up the circumstances in which Lydgate wrote the poem. He did it for Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of the famous warrior-king Henry V, now deceased, and thus uncle to the young and incompetent Henry VI, starting in 1431 and ending in 1439. It is Duke Humphrey who has the connections to Italy. Jennifer Summit writes ("Stable in Study: Lydgate's Fall of Princes and Duke Humphrey's Library", in John Lydgate: Poetry, Culture and Lancastrian England, ed. by Larry Scanlon and James Simpson, p. 208):
So in 1439 Humphrey might have also been looking for fitting images to illustrate this vernacular work that he was shepherding to completion. From Weiss (3rd edition, 1967) I learn more. The Papacy had sent Italian humanists to England as its representatives. From them, Humphrey gets Bruni's translation of Aristotle's Ethics and is amazed by its lucidity compared with medieval translations. He gets Bruni to translate the Politics, but after that Bruni breaks with Humphrey because of his impatience and manner. After that, Humphrey gets Zenone da Castiglione, Bishop of Bayeux but a native Italian and student of Gasparino Barzizza, as his publicist (p. 50). Castiglione goes to the Conclave at Basel as an envoy of Henry VI, and when that conclave breaks up, joins the Papal court in Bologna, 1437 (p. 51). In 1438-39 he attends the Conclave then in Ferrara and Florence. After that, in 1439, he returns to England (p. 52).Lydgate received his commission in 1431, around the same time that Humphrey bgan to amass many of the most important books in his library. While Lydgate was busy writing, Humphrey commissioned a series of Italian humanists, beginning in 1433 with Leonardo Bruni, to oversee the copying and collection of books for his library, which grew steadiy during this time (6). By 1439, the year in which the Fall of Princes was finally completed, Humphrey was ready to make his first major gift of books to Oxford University.
_________________
6. Weiss [Roberto, Humanism in England during the Fifteenth Century, 2nd edition, 1957], pp. 47-53.
It would have been fortuitous if Castiglione happened to bring back a tarot deck to England in 1439, especially since the Bolognese deck known later had the necessary imagery for the two illuminations. If not, there would be more opportunities. Through Castiglione and his secretary, a Milanese named Rolando Tolenti (also of the Barzizzas' school in Milan), Humphrey becomes the chief sponsor of Pier Candido Decembrio's translation of Plato's Republic (p. 54). Decembrio also advises him on what works he should add to his library. The manuscripts are sent via the Borromei, an Italian banking family operating in Florence, Milan, and Venice who also have a branch in London (http://www.queenmaryhistoricalresearch.org/roundhouse/default.aspx. and Weiss p. 59). By the early 1440s, aspiring English humanists are returning home from Padua, Bologna, Ferrara, Rome, and Florence. Weiss mentions humanist book collector Andrew Holes, who returns in 1444 after 9 years in Italy, including a year and half in Florence, 1439-1441 (p. 78: "The Florentine visit proved particularly congenial"). There are numerous other lesser lights as well as papal emissaries, English and Italian, back and forth. Humphrey is connected to most of them. If he wanted new sources of images, all he had to do was ask.
Lydgate manuscripts also had illustrations of the Wheel of Fortune, as posted by MJ Hurst at viewtopic.php?f=11&t=937&p=13701&hilit=Lydgate#p13691. But Wheels of Fortune were ubiquitous in medieval literature. Hurst also posts a picture of a man, intended to be the young Oedipus, hanging upside down, his foot tied to a rope. but without his legs crossed over each other in the characteristic tarot manner. Whether the Oedipus image is irrelevant, as Hurst maintains, is debatable, if a tarot pack merely functioned as a model-book. But the resemblance is not great.
So it is quite possible that the Tower and the Charles VI Sun card image were already around in 1440s Italy. Since the woman with the distaff is never on a Milanese card, it would not likely be from there, but they quite possibly could have been inspired by a pack from elsewhere, such as Bologna or Florence.
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