MikeH
Fame, World, CY, and PMB, Part 2
(continuation from Part 1 of "Fame, World, CY, and PMB"
(3) DATING THE CARY-YALE (CY).
Datable personal and family information is useful for dating a deck. But it does not necessarily mean that the deck was made right after the event. It just means that it was made no earlier; the evidence may also point to a later date. It may be that some deck was made for the wedding in 1441, that Filippo helped design it. But was it the CY as we know it? Francesco and Bianca spent the next few years traveling from place to place at short notice, taking their belongings with them. Even a wedding deck could easily have been lost. It is not likely to have been given by Filippo much after the wedding, as relations between him and the couple deteriorated rapidly. But it could have been made after 1450, when Francesco was making inquiries and wanting to purchase some decks.
One reason for doing so would, of course, be to make to make Bianca happy, if the old deck had been lost, badly painted, or for some reason started but never completed. In earlier posts I suggested that the structure of the Cary-Yale is closely connected with that of the Michelino. Filippo would have understood the connection best, but 15 year old Bianca would have known something. And just at that later time, in late 1449, there was the discovery of the Michelino deck by Sforza's comrade and friend Marcello, as Trionfi has documented, in the period immediately preceding their parting of the ways in December of 1449 (http://trionfi.com/0/b/03/). Considering that the Michelino was "invented" by his wife's father, one would expect that Marcello would have given full particulars to Francesco, and perhaps even the book he found describing the game, as he sends only a copy to Isabella, Queen of Lorraine, claiming the original is damaged. (Huck, please correct me if I misread any of Trionfi’s page on Marcello. Although I appreciate very much the English translation, I found it a bit hard to follow.)
For Francesco, the production of the CY also would have served the purpose of bolstering the legitimacy of the Sforza regime. After all, the cards have holes on the top, as though displayed for some purpose. The purpose could have been to show the continuity between the old regime and the new, so as to convey that Francesco, whose sons would have Filippo as their grandfather, was in the normal line of succession. There is a whole book about the propaganda campaign Francesco waged, partly to keep other Italian states from attacking him, (e.g. Alfonso of Naples, to whom Filippo had willed Milan); partly to get recognition from the Emperor as Duke (as the old terms for ducal inheritance did not extend to him); and partly to assuage the Lombardy nobility (Francesco was not even of noble birth). See Humanistic Historiography Under the Sforzas: Politics and Propaganda in Fifteenth-Century Milan, by Gary Ianziti. In this campaign the cards could have been re-creations, or created from scratch, in the old style, with mostly Visconti devices, to give the impression to the nobles of a kind of holy relic preserved by the Sforzas for love of Filippo. Furthermore,in 1452, when Bembo's workshop re-opened, there is no problem about the same artist doing the work as did the "Lancelot of the Lake," and later the original PMB. It could even have been Bembo for all of them. If there was a lost 1441 deck, perhaps that artist provided old sketches.
Mingled with the lovingly “preserved” Visconti emblems, the deck has Sforza heraldic devices as well, as though testifying to the great love Filippo bore Francesco in the days before he lost his mind. The Sforza device of the hexagonal fountain appears in several CY cards, as Kaplan (vol. 1, p. 62) and Dumnmett (The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards, p. 13) observe. The male's front on the Love card and that of three Baton court figures have Sforza fountains. Dummett says there are Sforza branches on the CY Swords, but I have found no confirmation that branches were Sforza devices. These emblems, if nothing else, would seem to rule out a pre-1441 date. But the deck could have been done either in 1441 or after 1451.
Then there are the coins on the CY suit of Coins. Dummett says they are replicas of coins issued by Filippo *The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards. Pollet (http://it.geocities.com/a_pollett/cards31.htm) disagrees, saying that they differ from Filippo's in two respects: first, Filippo's coins were silver rather than gold; and second, they did not have "FILIP MARIA DUCHA" written around the circumference, as do the ones on the card. Pollett says that it was Francesco who issued gold coins; they had a similar picture of a rider on horseback, but with the words "DUX MEDIOLANI"-"Duke (lord) of Milan.”
If the cards were made in 1441, there is no difficulty in using gold leaf paint for the gold imprint of silver coins. The difficulty is in the imprint "FILIP MARIA DUCHA" on all the images of coins in the pip cards. They look to me all the same and all in the style not of painting but of coin-design, an entirely different trade. Filippo would have had to arrange the making of some non-circulating samples, made from a new mold, just for the purpose of the cards. If he took the trouble to do that, why wouldn't he just continue making new real coins the same way, with his name on them?
Francesco would have had both the stronger motive and the easier time making the coins for the deck. One motive could be to simulate a deck from the previous ruler. To do so, all he had to do was ask the people who made the molds to make another version at the same time. Or perhaps he had planned a commemorative coin and then decided against it. So instead he put the commemorative on the cards.
Let us suppose that Pollett is wrong, and that Filippo did issue the coins with his name on them, none of which survived for us to see. That still would not prove anything. At that time, enough coins would have survived for Francesco's use.
If Francesco commissioned the CY in 1451 or so, a question arises. Why is the old battle incident important? Is Piccinnino, or an heir, still active and able to cause trouble? Perhaps he is just on the card (in the boat) because he was there in the original deck, now lost. Or perhaps it is something for Francesco and Bianca to laugh about, from the bad old days, the unwise but resourceful old fool in the gunny sack.
Regarding that incident, there is also a problem if the deck was done while Filippo was Duke. The incident does not seem to put Francesco in a very favorable light, showing how undisciplined a subordinate was. I seem to remember in Huck's text (but I can't find it now) that Filippo criticized Francesco on these grounds. If Filippo was the one making the decision to put the incident on the card, it would constitute a snide insult to Francesco. I would imagine that his advisers would have disapproved. On the other hand, if Francesco was the one making the decision, then it would to be rubbing Filippo's face in the mud for his treatment of him. This delicate issue would not have arisen after Filippo’s death.
But the question of when the deck was done is a minor one, in relation to the Fame/World card; either 1441 or 1452 will do. It's the interpretation of the card that matters, because it shows how important the card was to the overall conception of the sequence.
4. CONCLUSION AND SYNTHESIS
The point is that whatever it was called, the card is the last or second to the last, part of the culmination of the series, here as in the decks that followed. It would not likely have been dropped from the new hand-painted deck, as Huck is saying was done in the original PMB, especially since the card, in some form, seems to have been in all the other cities (unlike the three theological virtues). So that is one card more than the 14 Huck stipulates for the original. I will get to the other two in another post. (I need to brush up on my Lubkin first.)
But if the original PMB was done later, and it was the CY that was completed in 1452, then there might be another layer of meaning to the deck, for both the CY and the original PMB that followed (which also has holes in the cards for displaying). The cards might be describing, in part and among other meanings, the archetypal hero's journey of Francesco himself. He is the lowly beggar of the PMB Fool, then the Lover (CY, PMB), with Bianca as the lady. He is the groom on the CY Chariot, his wife the lady. (I will not mention the court cards.) Filippo is the Hunchback (PMB), Francesco's revered mentor (for public consumption, that is). Filippo is also the sick Fisher King (CY Emperor, in relation to the 14th century manuscipt with Galahad). Francesco is also the one who falls out of favor (CY and PMB Wheel), who is excommunicated (PMB Pope and Hanged Man), and faces Death a thousand times (CY and PMB). Man and wife remain restrained (CY and PMB Temperance), courageous (CY, PMB), and with Hope, Faith, and Charity (all CY). With Francesco as the Fame/World card knight on the shore, they attain the Grail-castle they had once almost had but lost, the Duchy of Milan, the New Jerusalem here and now, however briefly it may stay, ruled by its Philosopher-King, following the dictates of Justice (PMB), as portrayed by his wife, the heir of Milan, whose loyal knight he is.
I will hopefully complete this series of posts in a few days, with one covering the 6 virtues and 3 luminaries in Milan 1452-1472.
(continuation from Part 1 of "Fame, World, CY, and PMB"
(3) DATING THE CARY-YALE (CY).
Datable personal and family information is useful for dating a deck. But it does not necessarily mean that the deck was made right after the event. It just means that it was made no earlier; the evidence may also point to a later date. It may be that some deck was made for the wedding in 1441, that Filippo helped design it. But was it the CY as we know it? Francesco and Bianca spent the next few years traveling from place to place at short notice, taking their belongings with them. Even a wedding deck could easily have been lost. It is not likely to have been given by Filippo much after the wedding, as relations between him and the couple deteriorated rapidly. But it could have been made after 1450, when Francesco was making inquiries and wanting to purchase some decks.
One reason for doing so would, of course, be to make to make Bianca happy, if the old deck had been lost, badly painted, or for some reason started but never completed. In earlier posts I suggested that the structure of the Cary-Yale is closely connected with that of the Michelino. Filippo would have understood the connection best, but 15 year old Bianca would have known something. And just at that later time, in late 1449, there was the discovery of the Michelino deck by Sforza's comrade and friend Marcello, as Trionfi has documented, in the period immediately preceding their parting of the ways in December of 1449 (http://trionfi.com/0/b/03/). Considering that the Michelino was "invented" by his wife's father, one would expect that Marcello would have given full particulars to Francesco, and perhaps even the book he found describing the game, as he sends only a copy to Isabella, Queen of Lorraine, claiming the original is damaged. (Huck, please correct me if I misread any of Trionfi’s page on Marcello. Although I appreciate very much the English translation, I found it a bit hard to follow.)
For Francesco, the production of the CY also would have served the purpose of bolstering the legitimacy of the Sforza regime. After all, the cards have holes on the top, as though displayed for some purpose. The purpose could have been to show the continuity between the old regime and the new, so as to convey that Francesco, whose sons would have Filippo as their grandfather, was in the normal line of succession. There is a whole book about the propaganda campaign Francesco waged, partly to keep other Italian states from attacking him, (e.g. Alfonso of Naples, to whom Filippo had willed Milan); partly to get recognition from the Emperor as Duke (as the old terms for ducal inheritance did not extend to him); and partly to assuage the Lombardy nobility (Francesco was not even of noble birth). See Humanistic Historiography Under the Sforzas: Politics and Propaganda in Fifteenth-Century Milan, by Gary Ianziti. In this campaign the cards could have been re-creations, or created from scratch, in the old style, with mostly Visconti devices, to give the impression to the nobles of a kind of holy relic preserved by the Sforzas for love of Filippo. Furthermore,in 1452, when Bembo's workshop re-opened, there is no problem about the same artist doing the work as did the "Lancelot of the Lake," and later the original PMB. It could even have been Bembo for all of them. If there was a lost 1441 deck, perhaps that artist provided old sketches.
Mingled with the lovingly “preserved” Visconti emblems, the deck has Sforza heraldic devices as well, as though testifying to the great love Filippo bore Francesco in the days before he lost his mind. The Sforza device of the hexagonal fountain appears in several CY cards, as Kaplan (vol. 1, p. 62) and Dumnmett (The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards, p. 13) observe. The male's front on the Love card and that of three Baton court figures have Sforza fountains. Dummett says there are Sforza branches on the CY Swords, but I have found no confirmation that branches were Sforza devices. These emblems, if nothing else, would seem to rule out a pre-1441 date. But the deck could have been done either in 1441 or after 1451.
Then there are the coins on the CY suit of Coins. Dummett says they are replicas of coins issued by Filippo *The Visconti-Sforza Tarot Cards. Pollet (http://it.geocities.com/a_pollett/cards31.htm) disagrees, saying that they differ from Filippo's in two respects: first, Filippo's coins were silver rather than gold; and second, they did not have "FILIP MARIA DUCHA" written around the circumference, as do the ones on the card. Pollett says that it was Francesco who issued gold coins; they had a similar picture of a rider on horseback, but with the words "DUX MEDIOLANI"-"Duke (lord) of Milan.”
If the cards were made in 1441, there is no difficulty in using gold leaf paint for the gold imprint of silver coins. The difficulty is in the imprint "FILIP MARIA DUCHA" on all the images of coins in the pip cards. They look to me all the same and all in the style not of painting but of coin-design, an entirely different trade. Filippo would have had to arrange the making of some non-circulating samples, made from a new mold, just for the purpose of the cards. If he took the trouble to do that, why wouldn't he just continue making new real coins the same way, with his name on them?
Francesco would have had both the stronger motive and the easier time making the coins for the deck. One motive could be to simulate a deck from the previous ruler. To do so, all he had to do was ask the people who made the molds to make another version at the same time. Or perhaps he had planned a commemorative coin and then decided against it. So instead he put the commemorative on the cards.
Let us suppose that Pollett is wrong, and that Filippo did issue the coins with his name on them, none of which survived for us to see. That still would not prove anything. At that time, enough coins would have survived for Francesco's use.
If Francesco commissioned the CY in 1451 or so, a question arises. Why is the old battle incident important? Is Piccinnino, or an heir, still active and able to cause trouble? Perhaps he is just on the card (in the boat) because he was there in the original deck, now lost. Or perhaps it is something for Francesco and Bianca to laugh about, from the bad old days, the unwise but resourceful old fool in the gunny sack.
Regarding that incident, there is also a problem if the deck was done while Filippo was Duke. The incident does not seem to put Francesco in a very favorable light, showing how undisciplined a subordinate was. I seem to remember in Huck's text (but I can't find it now) that Filippo criticized Francesco on these grounds. If Filippo was the one making the decision to put the incident on the card, it would constitute a snide insult to Francesco. I would imagine that his advisers would have disapproved. On the other hand, if Francesco was the one making the decision, then it would to be rubbing Filippo's face in the mud for his treatment of him. This delicate issue would not have arisen after Filippo’s death.
But the question of when the deck was done is a minor one, in relation to the Fame/World card; either 1441 or 1452 will do. It's the interpretation of the card that matters, because it shows how important the card was to the overall conception of the sequence.
4. CONCLUSION AND SYNTHESIS
The point is that whatever it was called, the card is the last or second to the last, part of the culmination of the series, here as in the decks that followed. It would not likely have been dropped from the new hand-painted deck, as Huck is saying was done in the original PMB, especially since the card, in some form, seems to have been in all the other cities (unlike the three theological virtues). So that is one card more than the 14 Huck stipulates for the original. I will get to the other two in another post. (I need to brush up on my Lubkin first.)
But if the original PMB was done later, and it was the CY that was completed in 1452, then there might be another layer of meaning to the deck, for both the CY and the original PMB that followed (which also has holes in the cards for displaying). The cards might be describing, in part and among other meanings, the archetypal hero's journey of Francesco himself. He is the lowly beggar of the PMB Fool, then the Lover (CY, PMB), with Bianca as the lady. He is the groom on the CY Chariot, his wife the lady. (I will not mention the court cards.) Filippo is the Hunchback (PMB), Francesco's revered mentor (for public consumption, that is). Filippo is also the sick Fisher King (CY Emperor, in relation to the 14th century manuscipt with Galahad). Francesco is also the one who falls out of favor (CY and PMB Wheel), who is excommunicated (PMB Pope and Hanged Man), and faces Death a thousand times (CY and PMB). Man and wife remain restrained (CY and PMB Temperance), courageous (CY, PMB), and with Hope, Faith, and Charity (all CY). With Francesco as the Fame/World card knight on the shore, they attain the Grail-castle they had once almost had but lost, the Duchy of Milan, the New Jerusalem here and now, however briefly it may stay, ruled by its Philosopher-King, following the dictates of Justice (PMB), as portrayed by his wife, the heir of Milan, whose loyal knight he is.
I will hopefully complete this series of posts in a few days, with one covering the 6 virtues and 3 luminaries in Milan 1452-1472.