Dating the Cary Yale Visconti

Rosanne

http://rozcawley.typepad.com/autumn_cottage_diarist/books/

If you scroll down you will come to a book that has two rough painted sketches of Cary Yale Visconti cards stuck in a book about Pisanello.

It appears that the artist was one Mary/Margaret/May.. Jones who wrote in part, in pencil

Paris June 16th '35
Peter or Petit Patois
Services de jour Tarot
par Les Visconti di Milano par Vitore Pisanello 1428
Exposition .......(illegible to me)Italiano

I have read somewhere that the Cary Yale Visconti could have been created as early as 1428. I have not found why this date has been considered.

I researched the possible places where this Mary Jones could have seen the cards in Paris and found there was an exposition in a Gallery called the Italian Boutique on the same date, given by Carlo Visconti. In 1935 the CY Visconti was privately held by the Visconti Di Modrone family. This was the surviving branch of the Visconti who were the Dukes of Milan; it was by marriage they had taken this title. The Italian Boutique was featuring the fabric artist Maria Gallenga, famous in this time. She was particularly interested in Italian fabrics from Lucca and Milan in the Renaissance.
It would appear that Mary Jones must have seen the cards at this exposition, because they were not available to seen outside the family Visconti until they were sold in 1947 the Mr Cary who donated them to the Yale Library.

It is now known that the cards were painted by the Bonifacio Bembo, not Pisanello.

My questions are......
Where would Mary Jones have got the idea that they were painted in by Pisanello in 1428 from?
Did the Visconti di Modrone family give this information and why?
Is it possible that the Visconti family had incorrect information or is the information correct?

Carlo Visconti had a brother who was famous as a filmmaker and patron of Arts. His name was Luchino Visconti di Modrone. He consistently over many years sold family artifacts to fund his film-making.He sold the cards in 1947 as he was going into production of his film 'the Earth Trembles' produced in 1948. He had previously worked with Coco Chanel and continued his opera interests in the La Scala Opera House of Milan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luchino_Visconti

It occurred to me that naming these cards by Pisanello would have had a better salable quality than saying Bembo and maybe the date was to assure they were considered Visconti rather than Sforza. Every where you read it is said that these hand painted cards are from the mid 15th Century.
Was this aggrandizement of the Visconti name to make a sale?
Is this correct information?
Or did Mary Jones make an assumption without basis?
What do you think?

~Rosanne
 

Rosanne

In Volume 1 of Kaplan page 87 it states....
Cary-Yale Visconti-Sforza Tarocchi Deck The cards that form this incomplete pack of Visconti-Sforza cards originally belonged to the Visconti di Modrone collection. They were acquired in 1947 by Melbert B Cary Jr., who subsequently bequeathed them, as part of the Cary Playing card Collection, to The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven.

In the Essay about the Beinecke Collection, which can be read on Tarotpedia it says.
The playing cards, card sheets, wood blocks, metal plates, ephemera, and prints acquired by Melbert B. Cary, Jr., and bequeathed to the Yale University Library by his wife, Mary Flagler Cary, form one of the world's distinguished collections of such materials.
While Cary's trips to Europe were undertaken for Continental Typefounders, a good deal of his time must have been spent in seeking out playing cards. In the absence of notes or correspondence bearing on the formation of the Collection, it is impossible to determine with precision the starting point of Cary's collecting activity; however, it is possible to reconstruct it in part by separating the entire body of material into three groups: (I) nonstandard cards and sheets, as well as blocks and plates, of all periods which have long been desired by playing card and print collectors; (2) standard and nonstandard cards and sheets, along with appro*priate ephemera and prints manufactured prior to 1924, the date of Cary's first business trip to Europe; and (3) standard and nonstandard cards and sheets manu*factured between 1924 and 1941, the year of Cary's death.

So given his death in 1941- it was not him that purchased the Cary-Yale Visconti in 1947, but we read...
Melbert Cary guaranteed the intact transferral of his playing cards to succeeding generations: When he died in New York on May 27, 1941, the Collection, with its accompanying reference library, passed to his wife, and she guarded it conscien*tiously for twenty-six years. Mrs. Cary's relationship with Yale University was maintained and strengthened in this period by her friendship with Margaret Rollins and her husband, Carl Purington Rollins, for some three decades Printer to the University. The Cary Collection of Playing Cards became the property of the Yale University Library on the death of Mrs. Cary in 1967. Her will created the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, whose support, as noted, makes possible the publi*cation of this catalogue.

Here are the cards that appear to be copied and stuck into the Pisanello book. There is also the fabrics of the Knight of Cups showing the dressage cover with it's red and crowns.
Tarotpedia states a question mark beside Bembo? as artist and the dates 1420-1460.
 

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Rosanne

It would seem that the artist was interested in the fabrics more than the cards.
This makes sense as the exposition held at the Gallery Italian Boutique on the 16th June 1935 was featuring the famous Fabric designer.
Maria Monaci was born in Italy in 1880. In 1903, she married Peter Gallenga, who was one of the first doctors specializing in Cancer treatment.
Maria was an artist who started making clothes in 1914 showing them in Rome and in Florence where her studio was located in the Via de Tornabuoni.
She frequently incorporated her signature into the pattern of her materials. She designed theatrical velvet cloaks and tea gowns, evocative of the middle ages. She drew inspiration from pre-Raphaelite works of art and showed her garments in art exhibitions. Gallenga's fabrics and garments reflect the passion for the Italianate past.
Gallenga's gowns were very much part of the 20's idiom. She was awarded with the Silver Medal at the Monza design exhibition in 1923. In 1928, Maria Gallenga along with Bice Pittoni and Carlo Visconti di Modrone, founded the Boutique Italienne in Paris. It was active as a display window for Italian fashion till 1934.
Maria Gallenga died in 1944 at the age of 64.
 

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Rosanne

Where was Pisanello in 1428?

Pisanello stayed again in Verona in 1424. However, according to some scholars, he painted frescoes about hunting and fishing and jousts in Pavia the same year. These were commissioned by the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti. There is no trace of these frescoes left.

Back in Mantua with the Gonzagas between 1424 and 1426, Pisanello painted one of his important surviving works: the fresco Annunciation in San Fermo, Verona. It was used to embellish the funeral monument of Nicolò di Brenzoni by the Florentine sculptor Nanni di Bartolo.
Wikipedia on Pisanello
It appears he continued to work for the Gonzaga and Este families until the 1440's. I cannot find the Borromini sketch of the Pisanello fresco to link.
http://www.intofineart.com/usa/oil-painting-artist-PISANELLO.html

~Rosanne
 

Huck

The dating to 1428 was made cause the marriage of Filippo Maria Visconti and the girl of Savoy.
Pisanello had been in 1424 in Pavia (possibly) and after 1440 for some time in Milan (sure).

Another dating says "1468".

See also:

http://trionfi.com/0/c/30/
 

Rosanne

Thank you Huck! I tried to link that Trionfi article here, but it would not come up on my screen.

So it seems that the 1428 date shown on the doodle by Mary Jones was put forward by the Visconti di Modrone as the provenance of the cards in 1935; shown at the Italiane Boutique (which seems to be some sort of gallery hotel) that displayed things Italian at a time when that was in vogue. The person who exhibited it was a relation of Luchino Visconti either Carlo or Carla Visconti who had owned the Boutique at the time, and who was in partnership with Maria Gallenga. Mr Gallenga was a chemist and he formulated a way to print gold onto fabric so it appeared to float, and did not peel away as was common before his technique.
So as I do not think Mary Jones would have made up the information in her doodle, it only remains to decide if the Visconti family knew this date and Artist as a fact of family history, or it was inferred to give the cards a Visconti History- that is to make the cards have a particular provenance for sale.
Mr Luchino Visconti had tried to sell other artifacts, that were thought not genuine by museums, but had sold things like jewelery and manuscripts that were definitely genuine Visconti artifacts. Pablo Picasso was said to have sneered about Luchino's love of luxury and his communist leanings. I find it hard to believe that he did not know the facts of these cards.He was born into an aristocratic family, he was well acquainted with the arts: his mother was a talented musician, and throughout his childhood his father engaged performers to appear at their private theatre. He studied cello for 10 years and spent a short time as a theatrical set designer. He also had a solid classical education.(information from his biography) He was meticulous with the artwork in his films, both in set and costume.

~Rosanne
 

Huck

There were many Visconti and they were all not descending from Filippo Maria Visconti.
It's not clear, by which strange old way the deck went into the possession of this string of the family. So Luchino not naturlly should have known very much about the provenance, perhaps just "old legends".

The theme "Pisanello as painter" is not new ... I think, that MikeH had it earlier.
 

Rosanne

True Huck.
This is the first time I have seen a date and artist given with confidence- before the cards came out of a private collection.
The thing that really interests me, is that it appears not an investigation into Tarot, but a look at style- at fabric, so there is no qualms about writing down what was 'told' or 'tagged' to the cards. Like Bonifacio Bembo- there were helpers to the Artist- this could well be the case of Pisanello- some artist could have been helping him, as with apprentices who helped with borders and animals in the fringes of illuminations- another doing the gilding etc.
It is the date that interests me.

I had missed MikeH's thread on Tarot History, but on reading it now, I think he missed the reason why Mary Jones was doodling- it appears nothing to do with the cards, but the fabric and style shown on them- that is where she concentrated. That was her agenda. It would not surprise me to find- that it was for some theatrical period piece or some popular fabric design. Italian style for what ever reason. Somehow the date and Artist looks confident as if reading from a label attached to the cards in a display case, and attaching it to her sketch as a matter of record.
I dispute that Luchino did not know his family history if you read his biography, and different articles about his productions in both film and Opera, and his decorating of his homes at various places. He did indeed exaggerate his forebears nobility as was common. His father copied frescoes from the Visconti past in their theatre decoration and chapels (painting them himself)- an Annunciation with himself and Luchino as patrons kneeling before the Virgin.
In the end, yes it could well have been the repeating of a legend within a scattered family and Luchino was eclectic in his use of family belongings and selling them when he tired of them, or to obtain funds. He also provided friends and supporters with historical data for their creative projects. I think he had a good idea of the possible value of artifacts if they were genuine.

~Rosanne
There are two good biographies called Luchino Visconti one by Claretta Tonetti and the other by Geofrrey Nowell Smith. They take you away from Tarot :D
 

Huck

Another possible solution as producer of the Cary-Yale are the Zavattari brothers. Actually they got a commission from Filippo Maria to paint frescoes (in Monza) near to the time (1441), which might be the most plausible for the production of the Cary-Yale. Their theme was Queen Theolinda, which Filippo Maria possibly regarded as "ancestor".
Bonifacio Bembo started 1446 with his "first known work", so he might actually be the wrong choice. But the Bembos of Cremona were a family of artists and it might have been a work of his father, uncle etc..

I personally wouldn't think, that Pisanello might be the artist.

There was some family drama, that Bianca Maria didn't get children ... well, it only took some time (Galeazzo Maria was born January 1444), but Filippo was impatient. During this time Filippo Marfia ordered the Monza Theodelinda paintings.
Somehow there are rudimentary rests of a legend around Theodelinda with a sea monster, which together got a child. I saw this legend only mentioned in a German source ... I don't have it present, somewhere it's noted.

Maybe Filippo Maria knew this story.
Analyzing this "mythos", it's relatively simple to interpret: Theodelinda had her location near the Comer See (lake of Como, near Monza) and a river flowing from the lake to the region of Milan fructified the region. Naturally such rivers occasionally behave like water monsters in times of much snow waters or too much rain.
From this it stays to interpret, that the Visconti monster (the viper with the man in its mouth) is this fructifying sea monster of Theodelinda.
Filippo Maria likely identified himself as descending from Theodelinde or her husband:

http://trionfi.com/visconti-genealogy

"Agistulfus Rex" (Nr. 36) should be Agilulf, her second husband, living around 600 AD. Nr. 37, Desiderius Rex, on the list is another historic person:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderius

... dying 786 AD, the gap of time between the two persons is considerable and too long to be real, but its the time, when oral and written tradition took a pause ... well, the time of a sea monster, one may state with some humor.

So Filippo Maria made some child-birth magic, when he commissioned the frescoes. "Dear Theodelinda, we need somebody for the Sea-Dragon-throne".
Well, it worked, Bianca Maria got 8 children.

The sea-monster story more or less obviously is pagan lore, which naturally had its difficulties to survive "on the surface" in times, which had a Christian etiquette. The official story of the sea-monster on the family heraldic was Otto, a crusader, who fought and killed a sarazen with such a helmet.

But I think, I told this story already here ..

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=126031&page=3
 

Rosanne

I do not get this Queen Theodelinda connection Huck.
It would see that just the showing of the Iron Crown somewhere in the deck, would clinch the matter. Visconti showing that pointing to the Queen would be pretty obvious. Across around the Queens neck with the bit of Holy Cross- anything other than a crown, which could mean any Queen, any Empress. Why in a game anyway?
All these historical musings about a game, just become the OommImknackered bird, who flies in ever decreasing circles until he ends up with his beak in his tail feathers. :D
The only connection I can see to Theodelinda is the bridge across the River on the World card of the CY.
http://www.italiadiscovery.it/news/..._adda/il_castello_di_trezzo_d_adda/1003.php#2
Look at the drawing.
Visconti Castle - Adda river- Queen T's Fortress.
Some reckon Fama above- I reckon it is Peace and the 7 regions of Lombardy. Top card.

~Rosanne