full deck
The card "Love" (V) is an interesting tableaux, quite different from "The Lovers" commonly found in the Marseilles pattern and other decks. Here, the symbology is of a man, kneeling as if pledging his loyalty (hand over heart) and the woman is crowning him, with her love, making him a ruler of sorts. Cupid hovers above, arrow ready to fly.
(this is from the Minchiate Fiorentine)
The image seems more a depiction of "The Triumph of Love" theme, one that was made famous by Petrarch (poet) and Annibale Carracci (painter, 1560-1609) in his famous mural "Triumph of Divine Love" (Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne)
(seen below)
Notice the inclusion of the same hovering cherubs and of one cherub with crown in hand. The putto were a common theme, being a depiction of the god Eros -- offspring of Venus and Aries. Eros was most commonly depicted as being a winged cherub "putti" Italian), whose presence in a painting was an artistic indication of love at work. His most common attributes were wings and a bow, just as is found in our minchiate version of "Love".
Though one could argue that here -- as in "The Lovers" -- the imagery is about choosing or making a choice, but here, both man and woman surrender or yield to each other, making this a mutual surrender to love itself, love which is only represented in the mutal surrender of two lovers to each other and never in the physical sense, as with Eros. The focus in this card is more upon the surrender and that particular moment in time and not the consequences or results that come of such a union and that sentiment that "loosens limbs and defeats all reason". *
*It's the redneck equivilent of smoking at the gas pump right when it explodes.
(this is from the Minchiate Fiorentine)
The image seems more a depiction of "The Triumph of Love" theme, one that was made famous by Petrarch (poet) and Annibale Carracci (painter, 1560-1609) in his famous mural "Triumph of Divine Love" (Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne)
(seen below)
Notice the inclusion of the same hovering cherubs and of one cherub with crown in hand. The putto were a common theme, being a depiction of the god Eros -- offspring of Venus and Aries. Eros was most commonly depicted as being a winged cherub "putti" Italian), whose presence in a painting was an artistic indication of love at work. His most common attributes were wings and a bow, just as is found in our minchiate version of "Love".
Though one could argue that here -- as in "The Lovers" -- the imagery is about choosing or making a choice, but here, both man and woman surrender or yield to each other, making this a mutual surrender to love itself, love which is only represented in the mutal surrender of two lovers to each other and never in the physical sense, as with Eros. The focus in this card is more upon the surrender and that particular moment in time and not the consequences or results that come of such a union and that sentiment that "loosens limbs and defeats all reason". *
*It's the redneck equivilent of smoking at the gas pump right when it explodes.