Rosanne
Nor is it anywhere in my ones either Gregs. It is in an encyclopedia though as Naipes.gregory said:Naipe is just the Spanish for playing card; I'm guessing naibe is the Italian version, though it isn't in my HUGE dictionary.
~Rosanne
Nor is it anywhere in my ones either Gregs. It is in an encyclopedia though as Naipes.gregory said:Naipe is just the Spanish for playing card; I'm guessing naibe is the Italian version, though it isn't in my HUGE dictionary.
Hah! Maybe you've just solved the 'strangeness'. Very reasonable explanation.Rosanne said:Visconti 16 Honours + 4 Aces + 4 Sevens + 4 Sixes = 28 and maybe + the four diased Popesse/Empress/Emperor and Pope =32.
Interesting thought about those strange plinths in the Visconti.
~Rosanne
The summer months were spent in the Castello of Pavia, [Page 206]where Beatrice nursed her husband in a slight attack of fever, and afterwards received a visit from her father and brother. They arrived on the 25th of August, bringing with them a troop of actors to perform the Menæchmi and some of the other comedies which had pleased Lodovico so much at Ferrara. Duke Ercole himself, as usual, took keen interest in these theatricals, and before he left home sent to borrow two complete Turkish costumes and turbans from the Marquis of Mantua, in order to supply deficiencies in his actors' wardrobe. Three days after his arrival, Borso da Correggio, a young nephew of Niccolo, who had travelled to Pavia with the duke, sent the following note to give his cousin Isabella the latest news of her family:—
"Most illustrious Sister and honoured Lady,
"We arrived on the 25th at Pavia, and were received by these excellent lords and ladies with the usual formalities. We find both of the duchesses well and happy, one of them, indeed—her of Milan—expects the birth of another child shortly, but our own duchess is as gay and joyous as ever. On the 27th the comedy of The Captives was acted, and the performance went off very well. To-day The Merchant is to be given, and will, I hope, prove equally successful. To-morrow we are to have a third. Our way of living is as follows. Early in the morning we go out riding. After dinner we play at scartino, or else at 'raising dead men' and 'l'imperiale,' and other card games, till it is bed-time. The players are, as a rule, the Duke [Ludovico il Moro] and Duchess of Bari [Beatrice d'Este] together, Ambrogio da Corte, and some third man, whoever may happen to be present. To-day your father the duke, Don Alfonso, and Messer Galeaz Visconti are playing at pall-mall against Messer Galeaz Sanseverino, Signor Girolamo Tuttavilla, and myself. The Duchess of Milan does not join us in these games, and only appears at the theatricals. The Duke of Bari is more devoted to the duchess than ever, and is constantly caressing and embracing her. My lord your father is altogether intent on the comedies. When they are ended, hunting-parties will begin, and we shall all be ready for the quails."
These amusements were unexpectedly interrupted by the news of Duchess Leonora's [Eleanor d'Aragon] serious illness, a gastric affection [Page 207]which ended fatally on the 11th of October.