Cicognara translations

[DoctorArcanus]

http://tarot.selfip.com/picture_library/

131
... It seems much stranger to us to deny the meaning of these leaflets, laughing at those that study a way to explain such meaning.
We know that the interpretation given by the mentioned author can encounter a number of exceptions, and that these mysteries can be explained in different ways. We will refer it briefly, even because it was received with great interest when published on a Cremona almanach in 1814 by Monsignor (a priest) Antonio Dragoni, much learned in pleasant and deep studies. ...

The emblematic cards of tarot being XXI immediately were connected to the Egyptian theory, which was later very dear to Pitagoras, being 3 the perfect number and 7 the mystic number. “That” composed his book including in it all possible perfections and making it as mysterious as possible. He composed it in three classes of images, corresponding to the 3 ages of the World, gold, silver and bronze. Each class is made of 7 divisions ...
The first image had to be 21, the World, first figure of the golden age. In the egg, symbol of creation, is Isis, goddess of time, a the 4 corners the seasons, Eagle springtime, Lion summer, bull autumn, angel winter.

132
By the modern they were mistaken for the evangelists.

XX Judgment a young boy and girl rising from the earth at the voice of Osiris, master of matter, animating them with the fire of creation.

XIX Sun soul of the univere
XVIII Moon, from which the tears of Isis fall. ... The 2 dogs represent another allegory that anybody explain in the same obvious way.
XVII The seven planets, and the Canicola, the most important star; and Isis that when Canicola rises sheds her tears. A symbol of the generation of nature.
XVI castle of Pluto.
XV Tifone AKA the devil. Brother of Isis and Osirisi. .... Closes the golden age and opens the silver age
XIV Temperance ...
XIII This number always unlucky is given to death, that harvests heads.

133
XII Prudence. Who would have said to Mercury that in the end his prudence would have changed in an hanged man? In the Minchiate game and in other Tarots such metamorphosis is not seen.
XI Strength kills the Lion, symbol of deserted earth. Principle of agriculture ....
X Wheel of Forutune. ....
IX The Wise man or Philosopher with light in his hand looking in vain for Justice and Astrea.
VIII Justice
VII Osiris on a triumphal chariot, symbol of wars in the bronze age.
VI Marriage. Love blends honour and truth. The necessity of bindings and law was necessary in an age in which freedom was everywhere. Concubito prohibere vago, dare jura maritis (to forbid the easy intercourse, to give laws to the husbands)
V Jerofante, great priest, Pope. With triple Tau, sign per excellence. Necessity to create a priestly hierarchy.
IV King
III Queen
II Great Priestess of Papesse. In ancient times priests could marry. So it was given this incorrect name. She was also said the pride of the powerful, since she was sometime replaced by a Juno with peacocks. And you also see Jove instead of the Pope.

134
I The player making wonders with his stick. He is also said Pagad or Bagat, that is arbiter of fortune. In eastern languages Pag is chief and Gad fortune. ...
0 Zero, Fool, Matto, without brain. This numberless card completes the sacred alphabet of That. Corresponds to Tan which means conclusion and perfection. ....

This book was also made more mysterious in ancient times ... It was made appropriate for the division in four classes: nobles or soldiers, priests, peasants, merchants, and artists found their place in the book of That ... so the mystic 7 had the first place in the book, and his meaningful images where 10 times 7 that is 77. The most mysterious of numbers, to which adding the Fool, ..., the number of Tarot is completed as it is universally known: 78 cards. ...
The Sword signifies the class of nobles and solders, kingly strength, victory ....

 

[Huck]

Oops, that was quick, Marco.

I should add, that we got these 6 pages with thanks from Andrea Vitali and that the article is not complete. The described content should refer to that what Cicognara saw 1831 in a complete deck in his possession, from which he published unluckily only 6 cards (which are on the last page) ... the deck should have had greater similarities to the Leber Tarocchi, but was not totally identical.

http://trionfi.com/0/h/51/
http://trionfi.com/0/j/d/leber/

The "official" estimated dating is early 16th century considering the style of the copperplate engravings and suggested is a specific artist by Hind.

More interesting is that, what is known by the Leber Tarocchi (woodcut eck in contrast to the 6 cards, which are copperplate engraving ... that's a sort of "heroes Tarocchi", as I defined it recently, and it has similarities to the Boiardo poem and the Sola Busca Tarocchi.

Hind suggests, that the 6 cards point to heraldic design used by the Riario-Rovere family, which with 2 popes took its place in papal history (1471 - 1484 - Sixtus IV and 1503 - 1512 - Julianus).

Taking the relevant time in account, then the logical situation in history as birth time of this deck type would be 1473 - at least this is our suspicion.

Pope Sixtus IV had many nephews in the right playing card age - it was the young persons, who made card playing popular, and at least one of the nephews, Girolamo, was known for excessive playing card use.

In 1473 happened it, that the prefered nephew made a great festivity for Eleanore d'Aragon on her way to marry Ercole d'Este (Trionfi decks were often connected to festivities). The festivity was greater than anything, what one has seen till then - so it is reported. A Trionfi deck production at this time is not unlikely. The style of the deck has militaric aspects, for instance they know a "Roman Achilles" and the fool is a soldier. In 1473 a crusade was prepared, which in mild form really took place 1474. One of the figures is a Assyrian emperor on a dromedar.

It seems plausible to suggest, that this was not the only Emperor in the game ... the Minchiate later knows an Eastern and a Western emperor. The Assyrian Emperor might be an early form of the Eastern emperor.

The devil is not full developed. According to our calculations the devil was at least till 1468 not in the Trionfi deck. In the case, that the date 1473 is correct for the deck type (not naturally for the deck), it might be the first devil-similar figure, here called a little bit different, Perditorum Raptor.

Well, the whole case must be studied... my rambling creates only a suggestion, not more, for the moment. Perhaps it was not in 1473, but at the occasion of a marriage of one of the nephews with a daughter of Montefeltro in Urbino. Montefeltro, the condottieri showed a favour for the figure of Victory (in the Lazzarelli manuscript and at the both triumphal chariot, which showed him and his wife accompanied by 7 virtues and Victoria) ... the deck contains as name for the chariot the inscription Victoriae Premium.

########

I assume, Marco, that the text is not totally complete translated?

 

[kwaw]

The described content should refer to that what Cicognara saw 1831 in a complete deck in his possession,

Does it? From what Marco has translated it seems mainly to be a copy of material from C.de Gebelin's 'Monde Primitif'?

Kwaw

 

[Huck]

Does it? From what Marco has translated it seems mainly to be a copy of material from C.de Gebelin's 'Monde Primitif'?

Kwaw

... are you sure? It's given as "from Cicognara".

It was cited by Hind, with these pages, as "from Cicognara", whatever Gebelin earlier said. Andrea Vitali copied the pages for us on request (which proved then as "only a fragment").
Well, sure, Cicognara sees in his interpretation Egyptian figures ... this idea he plausibly has from Gebelin. I was surprized myself, I had exspected something more similar to ordinary "playing card research".

 

[kwaw]

... are you sure? It's given as "from Cicognara".

It was cited by Hind, with these pages, as "from Cicognara", whatever Gebelin earlier said. Andrea Vitali copied the pages for us on request (which proved then as "only a fragment").
Well, sure, Cicognara sees in his interpretation Egyptian figures ... this idea he plausibly has from Gebelin. I was surprized myself, I had exspected something more similar to ordinary "playing card research".

Not just the idea Cicognara has from C.de Mellet and C. de Gebelin, but much of the text I would say, for example, the world as Isis in the egg and the four holy creatures being 'mistaken' for the evangelists, the three ages of Gold, silver and bronze, reading it as an allegory in reverse from world to fool reading 'judgement' as 'creation' by Osiris, XII as prudence, Osiris in his chariot, tears of Isis on Moon, devil as typhon and so on down to 0 the fool corresponding to Tau meaning completion and perfection, Pagad meaning pag 'chief' and 'gad 'fortune', etc. It is basically a (condensed) translation by Cicognara [? or the priest Antonio Dragoni mentioned in first paragraph?] of C. de Mellets and C. de Gebelin's essays in Monde Primitif.

Kwaw

 

[kwaw]

Compare:
He composed it in three classes of images, corresponding to the 3 ages of the World, gold, silver and bronze. Each class is made of 7 divisions ...

The first image had to be 21, the World, first figure of the golden age. In the egg, symbol of creation, is Isis, goddess of time, a the 4 corners the seasons, Eagle springtime, Lion summer, bull autumn, angel winter.

132
By the modern they were mistaken for the evangelists.

XX Judgment a young boy and girl rising from the earth at the voice of Osiris, master of matter, animating them with the fire of creation.

de Mellet:
First Series. Century of Gold.
Twenty-first, or first Card, represents the Universe with the Goddess Isis in an oval, or an egg, with the four Seasons at the four corners, the Man or the Angel, the Eagle, Ox & the Lion. Twentieth , this one is entitled the Judgement: indeed, an Angel sounding the the trumpet & the men leaving the ground, had to induce a Painter, not very versed in Mythology, to see in this tableau only the image of Resurrection; but the Old ones looked upon the men like children of the Earth [teeth sown by Cadmus, &c.]; Thoth wanted to express the Creation of Man by the painting of Osiris, God of Generation, blowing the trumpet, & by Tongues of fire which escape from the cloud, the Spirit of God animating matter; finally, by men leaving the ground to adore & admire the Absolute power: the attitude of these men does not announce culprits who go before their Judge.


XIX Sun soul of the univere
XVIII Moon, from which the tears of Isis fall. ... The 2 dogs represent another allegory that anybody explain in the same obvious way.
XVII The seven planets, and the Canicola, the most important star; and Isis that when Canicola rises sheds her tears. A symbol of the generation of nature.
XVI castle of Pluto.

de Mellet:
Nineteen, the Creation of the Sun which clarifies the union of the man & the woman, expressed by a man & a woman which give themselves the hand: this sign became that of Gemini, the Androgyne: two in one. Eighteen, the Creation of the Moon & the Terrestrial animals, expressed by a Wolf & a Dog, to mean the Domestic animals & wild: this emblem is much better selected, the Dog & the Wolf are the only ones which howl with the aspect of this star, as if regretting the loss of the day. This character leads me to believe that this Tableau announced very-large misfortunes in those which went to consult the Fates, two Fortresses defend a path of blood, & a marsh which finishes the Tableau, portend difficulties and sinister predictions. Seventeen, the Creation of Stars & Fish , represented by Stars & Aquarius. Sixteen, the House of God fallen, or the terrestrial Paradise out of which the man & woman are thrown out by the tail of Comet or Flaming Sword, accompanied by a hailstorm.

de Gebelin:
This image shows a Tower called "Maison-Dieu", that is to say the house par excellence; it is a tower filled with gold, it is the Castle of Plutus: it is falling into ruin, and his admirers are falling crushed inder the debris. {Note cicognara's source has confused Plutus with Pluto}.

This star is the perfect example of Canicula, or Sirius: a star which rises while the sun is moving out of the sign of Cancer, by which the preceding image finishes, and which this Star immediately follows.

The seven stars which surround it, and which seem to form its court, are the planets. The star is, in a way, their queen, because it remains fixed in this time of the beginning of the year; the planets seem to receive their orders on how to rule their courts from her.

Thus, the Moon, which follows in the wake of the sun, is also accompanied by tears of gold and pearls, to show that it contributes as well to the advantages of the earth.

Pausanias teaches us in the Description of the Phocide, that according to the Egyptians, it was Isis' tears which caused the Nile to overflow its banks each year, thereby making the land of Egypt fertile.



compare Cicognara:
XV Tifone AKA the devil. Brother of Isis and Osirisi. .... Closes the golden age and opens the silver age
XIV Temperance ...
XIII This number always unlucky is given to death, that harvests heads.

133
XII Prudence. Who would have said to Mercury that in the end his prudence would have changed in an hanged man? In the Minchiate game and in other Tarots such metamorphosis is not seen.

de Gebelin:
The Number XV represents a famous Egyptian character, Typon, brother of Osiris and Isis, the principle of evil, the great demon of Hell: he has wings of a bat, feet and hands of a harpie; on his head, the ugly horns of a deer: he was made as ugly and devil-like as possible. At his feet are two little demons [diablotins] with long ears, long tails, hands tied behind their backs: they are themselves tied by a rope around the neck, which stops at the pedestal of Typhon: it shows he won't release those who belong to him: he likes those who are his.

de Mellet:
Fifteen, the Devil or Typhon, last Card of the first Series, come to disturb the innocence of the man & to finish the golden age. Its tail, its horns & its long ears announce it as a degraded being: its raised left arm, the folded 'noude', forming the shape of the letter N, symbol of created beings; but the torch of Prometheus which it holds in the right hand, completes the form of the letter M, which expresses generation: indeed, the History of Typhon naturally induces us with this explanation; because, by depriving Osiris of its virility, it demonstrates that Typhon wishes to encroach on the rights of the producing Power; also he was the father of the evils which were spread on the ground.

The two Beings chained at its feet signify Human nature degraded & subjected, a new & perverse generation, whose talons express cruelty; they miss only the wings signifying Genius or an angelic nature to differentiate them from the devil: one of them touches with its claw the thigh of Typhon, emblematic of carnal generation: that it touches it with its left claw further dignifies the illegitimacy of it.

Typhon finally is often taken for the Winter, & this Tableau finishing the golden age announces the bad weather of the Seasons, by which man driven out of Paradise will henceforth be tested.

Second Series. Century of Silver.
Fourteenth, the Angel of Temperance comes to inform man, to make him avoid the death to which it is lately condemned: it is pouring water in wine, to show him the need to temper this liquor, or for moderating its affections.

Thirteenth; this number, always unhappy, is devoted to the Death, which is represented mowing the heads of both the vulgar and the crowned.

Twelfth, the accidents which tackle the human life, represented by a man hung by the foot; which is to say, to avoid such, it is necessary in this world to go with prudence: Suspenso Pede.

Cicognara:
XI Strength kills the Lion, symbol of deserted earth. Principle of agriculture ....
X Wheel of Forutune. ....
IX The Wise man or Philosopher with light in his hand looking in vain for Justice and Astrea.
VIII Justice

de Mellet
Eleventh, Prudence comes to the aid of fortitude, & tames the Lion, which was always the symbol of the waste land & wild. Tenth, the Wheel of Fortune, at the top of which is a crowned Monkey, teaches us that after the fall of man, dignity no longer rises from virtue: the Rabbit which goes up & the man who is thrown down, express the injustices of fickle fortune: this wheel is the emblem wheel of Pythagorus, drawing the fates by numbers: this Divination is called Arithomancy. Ninth, the Hermit or the Wise one, the lantern with the hand, seeking Justice on the Earth. Eigth, Justice.


Cicognara:
VII Osiris on a triumphal chariot, symbol of wars in the bronze age.

de Gebelin:
Osiris advances next; he appears in the form of a triumpant King, scepter in hand, crown on his head: he is in his Warriar chariot, drawn by two white horses.

Cicognara:
VI Marriage. Love blends honour and truth. The necessity of bindings and law was necessary in an age in which freedom was everywhere. Concubito prohibere vago, dare jura maritis (to forbid the easy intercourse, to give laws to the husbands)
V Jerofante, great priest, Pope. With triple Tau, sign per excellence. Necessity to create a priestly hierarchy.
IV King
III Queen
II Great Priestess of Papesse. In ancient times priests could marry. So it was given this incorrect name. She was also said the pride of the powerful, since she was sometime replaced by a Juno with peacocks. And you also see Jove instead of the Pope.

134
I The player making wonders with his stick. He is also said Pagad or Bagat, that is arbiter of fortune. In eastern languages Pag is chief and Gad fortune. ...
0 Zero, Fool, Matto, without brain. This numberless card completes the sacred alphabet of That. Corresponds to Tan which means conclusion and perfection. ....

('That' I thing is Thoth, and 'Tan' = Tau).

de Mellet:
Third Series. Century of Iron.
Seventh, the Carriage of War in which is an armoured king, armed with a javelin, expresses the dissensions, the murders, the combat of the century of bronze, & announces the crimes of the century of iron. Sixth, the Man hesitates between vice & virtue, but is not led any more by reason: Love, or desire [ concupiscence ], with bandaged eyes, ready to release its arrow, will lean on the right or on the left, according to chance. Fifth, Jupiter or the Eternal, assembled with his Eagle, the lightning of his hand threatens the Earth, & will take Kings in his anger.

Fourth, the King armed with a bludgeon [Osiris is often represented with a whip in his hand, with a sphere & T: joined together, these emblems formed in the mind of our German Card maker an Imperial Ball]: its helmet is furnished by saw like teeth, and nothing can appease its insatiability [Or its revenge, if it is irritated Osiris]. Third, the Queen, the bludgeon in her hand; its crown has the same ornaments as the helmet of the King. Second, the Pride of the powerful, represented by the Peacocks, Junon points to the Sky with her right hand, & the Earth with her left, proclaiming an earthly religion of idolatry.

First, the Juggler holds the rod of the Magi, with which to affect miracles & deceive credulous people. It is followed of a single Card representing the Madness which carries its bag or its defects behind it, while a tiger or the remorses, devouring his 'bulges', delays its walk towards crime [This Card does not have a row: it completes the crowned Alphabet, & answers the Tau which wants to say completion or perfection: perhaps one wanted to represent in his direction the most natural result of the actions of men]. These twenty-two original Cards are not merely hieroglypics, which, placed in their natural order, retrace the History of the earliest times, they are also letters [ the Hebrew alphabet is composed of 22 Letters] which variously combined, can form many sentences; even their name (A-tout) is just a literal translation of their employment and general character.

Very rough de Mellet translation by google/babel, tidied up as best I could with no good knowledge of the language. Excellent C. de Gebelin translation by Firemaiden, complete set of trumps translated here:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=51730&page=1&pp=10

Kwaw

 

[Huck]

Thanks kwaw,

that was careful analysis. I will look, if we get the other pages of this article too, to define the real context. Confused as I am, I could imagine, that it might be, that Hind was simply in error about the nature of this passage when he addressed them.
Okay, we have the Hind article somewhere, and I will see, that this becomes available, too.

 

[DoctorArcanus]

Cicognara and Mitelli

The six images from the Cicognara text remind me the Tarocchino cards by Mitelli. Both are on trionfi.com.

I attach a comparison of Love and Sun.
They are even more similar, if you "mirror" one of the two sets flipping the images right/left.

 

[DoctorArcanus]

Mitelli and Cicognara aces

See attached image.

 

[Huck]

They are near enough to speak of some relationship, but not necessarily near enough to assume "with security" that Mitelli knew the other deck, I would say. There is just the possiblility, that there is a 3rd "common" deck, by which they are related. But anyway ... an interesting observation. Hind declares, that the style of copperplate engraving more or less definitely is from early 16th century ... not knowing too much of copperplate engraving, just having looked on many meanwhile, I can imagine, that this is a correct statement and that I would judge similar, if I would know more.

This doesn't state anything about the Leber Tarocchi, which somehow is rather similar, but not totally similar.
And when I read the text of Cicignara, assuming that this text really relates to the deck, that Cicognara had, then I would nearly say, that the trumps of both decks do not have too much in common. What's your impression?

The really remarkable point is Hind's observation, that the ace of batons contains heraldic forms of the Rovere/riario family. If this is true, then things become interesting, as the better phase is ca. 1473 and in the time of pope Sixtus (1471 - 1473), not the time of Julianus (1503 - 1512).
Then an interaction to the Boiardo poem is easily possible and the whole fits in a general creative scheme for Trionfi cards matters in 1461 - 1482

When the 6 cards of the Cicognara deck cannot be from this phase, what is about the Leber Tarocchi? This is woodcut and the trumps are, mildl spoken, "very creative" different to normal Tarocchi cards. The Leber Tarocchi is normally dated early 16th century. Why? What are the arguments?