Hi Marco,
things develop with the time.
We've published ... (please read, it's important) ..
http://trionfi.com/0/mi/21/
.. something to an author with the name Jan van den Berghe, who in 1431 wrote a playing card book (moralization in relation to laws, by this quoting bible, Seneca and a Latin author with the name Valerius Maximus).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerius_Maximus
Well, you, ca. 1 1/2 years ago, wrote the following in the Sola-Busca-thread:
############
"Paulus Orosius: Historiarum Adversum Paganos
From
http://www.attalus.org/latin/orosius.html
Quote:
In 410 A.D. the Goths captured the city of Rome - an event which made a profound impression on writers of the time. Pagan writers were quick to blame the disaster on the spread of Christianity: the old gods no longer protected the city.
In response to these accusations, Augustine wrote his City of God; and at the same time he asked Orosius, a Spanish presbyter, to write a companion work, which would show that similar disasters had afflicted mankind since the earliest times. In fulfilling this request, Orosius produced the longest surviving summary of the whole range of ancient Roman history, covering over eleven centuries from before the foundation of the city up until Orosius' own time.
I found that books 4, 5 and 6 of this ancient work refer to 18 of the majors of the Sola Busca deck. For the 4 missing majors, I think the interpretation suggested by Michael J Hurst can be accepted. I also follow the spelling corrections that Hurst and Tea suggest for Ipeo/Lenpio. Here are possible sources for all of the majors (book numbers refer to Orosius):
0. Mato - Tarot
I. Panfilio - Boccaccio's Decameron
II. Postumio - "POSTUMIUS" Book 5
III. Lenpio - "LEPIDUS"? Book 5
IIII. Mario - "MARIUS" Book 5
V. Catulo - "CATULUS" Book 5
VI. Sesto - "SEXTUS" (Sextus Pompeius) Book 6
VII. Deo Tauro - "DEIOTARUS" Book 6
VIII. Nerone - "NERONE" Book 4
VIIII. Falco - "FLACCUS" Book 5
X. Venturio - "VETURIUS" Book 5
XI. Tulio - "CICERO" Book 6
XII. Carbone - "CARBO" Book 5
XIII. Catone - "CATO" Book 5
XIIII. Bocho - "BOCCHUS" Book 5
XV. Metelo - "METELLUS" Book 5
XVI. Olivo - "LIUIO" Book 4 (Livio: the online text always has "u" for lowercase "v")
XVII. Ipeo - "SCIPIO"? Book 5
XVIII. Lentulo - "LENTULUS" Book 5
XVIIII. Sabino - "SABINUS" Book 6
XX. Nenbroto - "NIMROD" Bible (Genesis)
XXI. Nabuchodenasor - "NEBUCHADNEZZAR" Bible (Daniel )
A check for the 12 Book 5 references can be made by simply pasting this string into Google:
lepidus flaccus scipio marius cato carbo lentulus metellus veturius bocchus postumius catulus
Marco"
############
There you state or indicate, that Paulo Orosius (ca. 400 AD) might be the
source for the Sola-Busca-Tarocchi composition, at least for a part of it.
Now we have another name with the text of Jan van den Berghe: Valerius Maximus, who ...
"In his preface he intimates that his work is intended as a commonplace book of historical anecdotes for use in the schools of rhetoric, where the pupils were trained in the art of embellishing speeches by references to history. According to the manuscripts, its title is Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings. The stories are loosely and irregularly arranged, each book being divided into sections, and each section bearing as its title the topic, most commonly some virtue or vice, or some merit or demerit, which the stories in the section are intended to illustrate."
Is it possible, that the Sola-Busca-characters were also in Valerius Maximus' text? Beside the figure of Nero, who obvious should be "too late"?
Our suspicion: Jan van den Berghe's text was printed ... possibly an edition reached Italy. Might he have inspired the Sola-Busca-card-producer?
Venice was full of German printers. The Sola-Busca is said to be from Venice
When you (as in this thread) see iconographical parallels between Master PW's work and Sola-Busca and we think cause other reasons, that there was a context between Jan van den Berghe and Master PW, and there is (possibly) also an assumable relationship between Jan van den Berghe and Sola-Busca Tarocchi ... what does this mean?
The nameless Master PW is believed to have been born in Cologne, but he was wandering a longer time and reached Salzburg, Passau and possibly Nurremberg .... why shouldn't he have been not also attracted by Venice as the city with the most interesting printing progress as a learning copperplate engraver?
Master PW returned to Cologne in 1500.