A Pre-Tarot Papessa in Padova?

Teheuti

Rosanne said:
Rosanne - also as a personification of May, the youth is sitting on a bull (Taurus), which makes an interesting link to the GD Hierophant who corresponds to Taurus (see bull imagery in the Thoth deck). I'm not saying that this proves any correspondence—only that it is interesting.

Re: the rose crown -
The blessing of Love triumphant- a tribute to Venus.
This links the image to Etteilla's attribution of Marriage (Love/Venus) to the Pope (5) card, although Etteilla's reason for this association refers to the Pythagorean number system in which 5 is marriage (the union of the first even and odd numbers—2+3—discounting 1 as representing unity).

So, whereas there are no causal links to these later tarot associations, it's still fascinating that they are present in this one image.
 

Debra

Wonderful.

I'm attaching it--I don't know how to put it in-line.
 

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samten

Further on the Palazzo della Ragione

I would just like to add, as part of rough ‘Work in Progress” notes, that the frescoes of the Palazzo della Ragione Padua, have close iconographic qualities with the Chiesa degli Eremitani by Guariento di Arpo. The Jupiter/Jove in both cases, are almost identical. Both are almost contempory and emerge later, in about 1430/40 in the Liber physiognomiae. Seznec:

“ . . the frescoes by Guariento in the choir of the Eremitani in Padua, and the miniatures of a Modena manuscript, the Liber physiognomiae (figs. 85 and 87). The two series are connected, as has long been recognized; . . ” p.197.

A hugely expensive facsimile of the Liber physiognomiae is available, described as: “Manuscript on paper with watercolour drawings from the Pisanello school, 1440 ca.”

The drawings are extremely crude, but they show, without doubt, the same costumes and bulbous hats that we see in Bonifacio Bembo, and of course, Pisanello. Hence there is a link to the Tarot.

My researches in Italy in 2008 went deeper into the question, but the notes are as yet unprocessed. It is clear that there are common sources, and these have been extensively researched.

In : A. Venturi, La Fonte di una Composizione del Guariento, L'Arte, XVII, 1914, pp. 49-57.
We see the illustrations compared:

Fig. 1 – Guariento. Infanzia, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 2 – Moon, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie
Fig. 3 – Guariento. Adolesence, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 4 – Mercury, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie
Fig. 5 – Guariento. La Giovinezza, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 6 – Venus, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie
Fig. 7 – Guariento. Virility, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 8 – Sun, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie
Fig. 9 – Guariento. Virility, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 10 –Mars, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie
Fig. 11 – Guariento. Virility Giovinezza, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 12 –Jupiter, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie
Fig. 13 – Guariento. Old Age, Giovinezza, Padova, Chiesa degli Eremitani.
Fig. 14 –Saturn, Liber Physionomie, Modena, Biblioteca Estensie

Further, for Guariento di Arpo, see:

Louise Bourdua, De origine et progressu ordinis fratrum heremitarum: Guariento and the Eremitani in Padua, Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 66, (1998), pp. 177-192

Anne Fitzgerald, Guariento di Arpo, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 9, (1931), pp. 167-198

Apparently the definitive study on Guariento di Arpo is: F. Flores d'Arcais, Guariento, Venice, 1965.

There are some small images here:
Guariento di Arpo (ca. 1338-1378 Italian). Eremitani Chapel, Padua, Italy
http://www.superstock.com/stock-photography/Guariento+di+Arpo

Regards,
Samten de Wet

P.S. Futher:

Jean Seznec, p. 127, note 17:
“In the Guariento frescoes, the Ages of Life are also brought into relation with the zodiacal constellations: Youth, for example, is represented with Venus and the sign of the Scales, etc.- A . Venturi ( ) has pointed out the correlation between these frescoes and the drawings of a Liber physiognomie (cod. Mut. 694, fol. 11); this correlation is probable, although the style of the drawings is very different. See F. Saxl, "Rinascimento," Rep. fur Kunstwiss., XLIII (1922), p. 245.”

An example of the facsimile:
Lat. 697 = α.W.8.20. Biblioteca Estense, Modena (Italy). Manuscript on paper with watercolour drawings from the Pisanello school, 1440 ca., 39 folios, 21 × 29 cm, two sheets with flat . . .
http://www.codicesillustres.com/catalogue/liber_physiognomiae/