Reconstructing the Cary-Yale

[catboxer]

Usually I don't like speculation, but understanding the Cary-Yale deck is so crucial to the "big picture" of tarot history that I can't resist.

"In the beginning..." as has been pointed out by Huck, Tom Tadfor Little, and a few others, there was the Marziano da Tortona/Duke Filippo Maria Visconti Gods-and-Birds deck. It's the first documented evidence we have of the appearance of this new idea called "trump cards."

It was followed a few years later by the Cary Yale, or Visconti di Modrone deck, which both Ron Decker and Stuart Kaplan believe was produced as a wedding present for the marriage of Duke Filippo's only child, Bianca Maria, and the then-condotierre Francesco Sforza, in 1441. Numerous experts believe the happy couple is pictured on the deck's "Love" card.

If the precedent set by the da Tortona pack was followed, the trumps of the Cary-Yale would have been envisioned as a fifth suit, and therefore very well may have consisted of the same number of cards as the other suits. If that was so, then it was a five-by-sixteen deck.

The suits of the Cary-Yale are the usual coins, cups, swords, and sticks, but there are 24 court cards (with the addition of female pages and knights in each suit) rather than 16, and additionally the pips in the suit of batons use arrows in place of the usual rods.

Eleven of the proposed 16 trumps still exist.

Therefore, if we admit the very real possibility that the pack was configured as a five-by-16, I would propose the following trump order:

1. Bagatto *
2. Empress
3. Emperor
4. Pope *
5. Faith
6. Hope
7. Charity
8. Chariot
9. Justice *
10. The Wheel *
11. Strength
12. Love
13. Death
14. Temperance *
15. Judgment
16. the World

The cards designated with asterisks are lost. All the others are extant.

So what do you think? The hypothesis is an 80-card deck.

 

[Cerulean]

Speculation with a few facts

To be honest, because of the time frame, I had wondered if
Filippo Maria may sometimes been at odds with papal authority. The omission of certain cards might be deliberate?

I need to research the Mantegna patterns more, but there's a guess as early as 1440, with the name of Leonello D'Este mentioned in a La Scarabeo booklet. If that was an influence, suppose Fillipo Maria want to break from that pattern.

Supposedly the Mantegna with its nice 50 cards, all the virtues and celestial spheres might have been both a courtly and religious set, nicely educational for courtly youth. Justice is a goddess with the scales.

But what if the Cary Yale, a gift of allegorical minatures for the blunt and brillant Sforza and the very young natural daughter, Bianca Maria was a precedent and variation of things and the patterns to come? The attendents to the glory of Bianca Maria was suggested, with the requisite handmaidens and pages, like many ceremonial portraits of celestial virtues that attended courtly Italian and Spanish brides to the dukes and marquis' of Northern Italy.

So I am following what is your suggested order, simply with the cards that we have now (none recreated), just as a triumphal procession to the glory of Bianca Maria:


2. Empress
3. Emperor

5. Faith
6. Hope
7. Charity
8. Chariot

11. La Forza or Force?
12. Love
13. Death

15. Judgment
16. the World

And then perhaps after Filippo Maria died, while Borso of Ferarra and his brother in law in Naples and the Pope suggested an "Ambrosian Republic," Sforza was too powerful and forceful a soldier to rest when he believed Milan was rightfully his.

When Sforza overpowered the Ambrosian Republic and the populace of Milan elected him Duke, the new order was a tarocchi deck with a more human Justice. Bianca Maria was a model of all the graces--but the virtue of Justice, a woman facing the viewer with a soldier and a horse leaping overhead--was a truer allegory for Milan, where bon droyt or to the good was from the might of Sforza for Milan.

I just wonder if the missing cards are truly missing.

Mari Hoshizaki

 

[Huck]

To this question:

http://geocities.com/autorbis/VMnew.html

also the dating-collection (unedited, just a private gathering)

http://geocities.com/autorbis/dating00.html

From this turns out, that the dating is unclear. Various scenarios are imaginable, the cards might have been even from 1428.

Filippo uses two times the 16 (Michelino deck trumps, Visconti Modrone pip cards), why shouldn't he use it a third time for the trumps?

Filippo had 4 books about Geomantia (based on 16).

Filippo loved chess (chess has 16 figures - for one side).

 

[jmd]

Here we have what are important notes and reflections in the active engagement of research!

Thank you so much for mentioning these and providing the links.

I have one question which may be relevant:

• I mention in another thread Allegorical reflections on Chess - I have, unfortunately, misplaced at this stage my sources, though I seem to recall that the material arose out of the 13th century in the British Isles. How may these be related, if at all, to the depictions which emerged in the Visconti-Sforza/Cary-Yale images?

On another note, it seems clearer with time that Tarot, as Tarot, has numerous influential antecedents, including the Visconti-Sforza deck, but that the earliest Tarot appears to be the Marseille sequence. Now here, other questions arise. For one, from whence does the pattern actually first emerge (Dummett having called it by another name does not necessarily reflect its emergence there); and why this specific pattern?

These are, of course, questions which we may be able to better answer as some of the wonderful research so many here are undertaking continues to deepen and unveil mysteries... and properly belongs in another thread

 

[Huck]

speculative, but there's more in it

Here we have what are important notes and reflections in the active engagement of research!

Thank you so much for mentioning these and providing the links.

I have one question which may be relevant:

• I mention in another thread Allegorical reflections on Chess - I have, unfortunately, misplaced at this stage my sources, though I seem to recall that the material arose out of the 13th century in the British Isles. How may these be related, if at all, to the depictions which emerged in the Visconti-Sforza/Cary-Yale images?

On another note, it seems clearer with time that Tarot, as Tarot, has numerous influential antecedents, including the Visconti-Sforza deck, but that the earliest Tarot appears to be the Marseille sequence. Now here, other questions arise. For one, from whence does the pattern actually first emerge (Dummett having called it by another name does not necessarily reflect its emergence there); and why this specific pattern?

These are, of course, questions which we may be able to better answer as some of the wonderful research so many here are undertaking continues to deepen and unveil mysteries... and properly belongs in another thread

We assume a scenario like that:

There was a scenario of origin of the 5x14-deck, one hot spot is the 1st of January 1441 (might be earlier, but this spot is hot i the moment and perhaps further evidence appears, which makes the date probable).

The participants at this hot spot were Bianca Maria Visconti and Leonello d'Este (and the complete d'Este court, which were more or less all rather young persons at that time beside the also present philosophs, artists, humanists etc.). These young persons (nearly kids) formed the deck or a deck idea till the point, that their idea was commissioned to a painter, Sagramoro.
14 paintings existed and were paid (it's not clearly said, that they were Trionfi cards).
Then Bianca Maria Visconti left Ferrara (end of March 1441 after a half-year-stay with many private actions and communications between her and the d'Este-family). With that departure two different developments existed - which not necessarily influenced each other on short way.

This was either after Cary-Yale-production or slightly before Cary-Yale. If the Cary-Yale was earlier produced than January 1441, then Bianca Marias visit might have influenced the Este court to think new about card-playing (cause she knew the Cary-Yale).
If the Cary-Yale was later (marriage October 1441), then the action in Ferrara prepared the painting of the Cary-Yale in October, by giving Filippo Maria Visconti a new idea (if this case is true, then he modified the game according his own taste (chess-game ?) and his educational interests (the 14-card deck didn't know more or less no virtues - the Cary-Yale knows them all).

But - it stays, that two different ideas existed: one stayed in Ferrara and the other Bianca Maria took with her.
As no numbers were painted on the cards probably (the time of creativity was great, the play was just not a very developed object and not famous), the motifs could be interpreted rather free, without hurting any esoterical laws or intentions , it was just playing around a little bit.

So in Milan and in the follow-up around Bianca Maria existed a view of the game and also another in Ferrara, and both developed different, only slightly different, as there had been some basic discussions at the beginning. So it happened, that a Milanese and a Ferrarese order existed very early. When later the contact between Bianca Maria and Ferrara (1454) did rise again (marriage Beatrice d'Este - Tristano Sforza) after a perode of wars, two versions existed (probably still in a 5x14-manner).
The Milanese version we know by the 14 trumps of Bembo. It should be - in its inner system - rather near to the number-system used in the later Marseille-deck. The probable number key is 5-5-4 (an order with 1-5, 6-10, 11-14, - structure, which changed to 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 ... 12, 13 ...20 for counting reasons).

compare http://trionfi.com/0/f/11/

The Ferrarese version we don't know, but we assume, that it had at the base similar motifs (later creative changes can't be excluded), as the deciding difference we assume a pairing-idea. Somebody regarded them as 2x7-, not as 5+5+4-system, similar to a system used contemporary in astrology: the 7 planets and their 7 spheres.

This did lead to the maior difference of the orders: Iustitia was paired with judgment and so was positioned at the end of the numerological row. This skipped and changed the whole system (we can't say, which system was earlier; Leonello had the favour, to chose his clothes according to the astrological sign of the day, so the 2x7-idea looks rather appropriate for Ferrara).

The early Ferrarese version (our opinion) used the same motifs, only the mental perception was different, and this was possible or even intended as possibility by the inventers, who didn't paint numbers at the cards.

Just a speculation. The Cary-Yale is unclear in his date. But there is an action in Ferrara, which might be the situation of "origin of the 5x14-deck". The document to it was found by Ross Gregory Caldwell in March 2003. The 5x14-theory was regarded as true with 99% probability (cause of other reasons) by autorbis since 1989, 14 years ago.
As the document is only interesting, if one knows about the 5x14-theory, it stayed hidden to other card researchers before.

It's the second entry (before Dokument 1) at:

http://trionfi.com/0/e/
and reflected in the start article
http://trionfi.com/0/d/

*************
edited 2009 / Links updated

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

I tend to think, with Dave and Huck, that there were 16 atouts in the Visconti di Modrone (the other name for Cary-Yale). I think Dave's selection of cards is right too - but his order I'm not completely in accord with. In all the historical orders Love is low, right at the beginning of the much-varied middle series of the cards. I'm not sure that *these* cards were ever meant to reflect the Petrarchan order perfectly. I think the message of little Cupid is that he can get to anyone, any person - but the practice of virtue can overcome his caprice. So he is portrayed at the low end of the moral series. So I'd put Strength and Love lower in the count - but otherwise I'm in agreement.

But Mari's opinion that there may be no trumps missing cannot be entirely discounted. The Brambilla has only two cards, Emperor and Fortune; I cannot say how many trumps it should have had. 14 is as good a guess as any, but fewer are possible. It may never have been "complete" - maybe Filippo had another game in mind. Cards were added and repaired, as we know from the Ferrara records and the Visconti-Sforza deck.

As for the date, I'm not convinced at all by the interpretation of the love card being a contemporary depiction of Maria of Savoy and Filippo in 1428. In addition to what Dave mentions, with Kaplan and Decker, Dummett used to think it was October 1441 as well. But recently (in the last 20 years, and in Italian) Giuliana Algeri has been gaining ground with the opinion that the *trumps* are Galeazzo Maria's era - specifically, his 1468 marriage to Bona of Savoy. She mentions specific Sforza heraldry, and I've found other things that she doesn't mention that support her - in particular, that Galeazzo Maria was enthralled by the exploits and the character of his great-grandfather, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, first Duke of Milan (died 1402). This fact would go a long way to explain why he has "A BON DROYT" on his hat, and why he would add trumps to a pack from Filippo's era. They may well have been sixteen trumps, to match the number of suit cards.

We might note, however, the difference between the Fortitude of this pack, which the Woman with the Lion (which looks very much like the Fortitude paired with Justice on Bernabo Visconti's equestrian statue in the Duomo) and that of the Visconti-Sforza, which is widely held to be from Galeazzo Maria's era (around 1475), and which shows Hercules (or the Victor Belli image of 26° Libra, which I show on my homepage). Quite different images!

Perhaps the Hercules image has to do with Hercules I's brief war with Venice in the 1480s. Hercules being Hercules (Ercole), and the Lion he is beating being Venice.

Ross

 

[Cerulean]

Other tidbits...

I do have to look it up again, but one of the tarocchi verses by Matteo Maria Boiardo have Hercules' triumph over Hippolyta (Ippolita) as one of the exploits of smart strategy over lust/love--so even in the game poem where Boiardo suggests that "Love Conquers All," the poem hints at mythical antecedents with strength to the glory of the D'Estensi.

MM Boiardo's later epic Orlando In Love had characters from the Estensi's noble ancestors also appear, a pattern later mirrored in Aristo's sequel to the epic.

MM Boiardo was mostly the faithful courtier of Ercole, as their ages were similar...although Borso had honored MM Boiardo to ride among the 500 who accompanied him that Easter Sunday in 1471 when the pontiff crowned him Duke.

Best wishes,

Mari H.

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

Re: Speculation with a few facts

Bianca Maria was a model of all the graces--but the virtue of Justice, a woman facing the viewer with a soldier and a horse leaping overhead--was a truer allegory for Milan, where bon droyt or to the good was from the might of Sforza for Milan.

I just wonder if the missing cards are truly missing.

Mari Hoshizaki

I can not help but see Bianca Maria in the Justice card; and Sforza's "Bon Droyt" was only through her, by the logic of heraldry, heredity and the divine right of Kings.

The image is unique too - it is the only one in the deck with the gothic tracery, and just such an image of Justice is found in the statue of Bernabo Visconti by Bonino da Campione, 1463-85. With the horse behind her, it could be thought of as a depiction of the statue, except that the young blond haired child of the Visconti-Sforza Justice card bears no resemblance at all to the powerful bearded Bernabo.

From the Web Gallery of Art site -
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/b/bonino/index.html

"This is the equestrian tomb of Bernabo Visconti, lord of Milan. It formerly stood behind the high altar of the now demolished S. Giovanni in Conca in Milan. The group is of marble, and the rider figure was at one stage covered in silver and had golden spurs and shield. These trappings and attachments, familiar from northern monuments, are now lost. It is not known how the monument of bernabo was allowed to occupy a position usually reserved for the chief relics.

Bernabo Visconti (died 1385), the iron-fisted despot of Milan, who married Regina della Scala of Verona, forged both a political and aesthetic alliance between the two cities. He commissioned the monument (which remained unfinished) from Bonino. The horse and intensely fierce rider dates from 1363, while the sarcophagus dates from Visconti's death."

I have a better picture if anyone wants to see it.

Ross

 

[Ross G Caldwell]

I've put up a better look at Bonino's da Campione's Justice, for those who'd like to take a look -

http://www.angelfire.com/space/tarot/bernabojustice.html

You can see by the sword hilt she was holding it up; and on the other side of the horse is Fortitude, a woman closing (or opening?) a lion's mouth - I haven't got as good a picture of this one.

I just thought the concurrence of Justice with a Cavalier riding over top was quite remarkable compared to this instance in another medium, in a Visconti context.

Ross

 

[Huck]

One cannot be sure about 1428, 1441 or 1468 or any other date for the Cary-Yale, so possibilities can't be excluded.

But one has to follow the probable assertions against the unprobable assertions.
11 trumps for Cary-Yale in the original? Rather unlikely. There are missing virtues. If each virtue is assumed to be inside the deck, then there must be at least 14 trumps. But 14 trumps are not probable, when there are 16 pip-cards in each suit. So, 16 is the "probable reading". This doesn't totally exclude the other possibilities, but it would surprize, if the total number would be different. If the total number was different, then there is a huge number of possibilities and any try to estimate, which card was inside and which not does only confuse the matter.

Only the "believe", that it was 16, makes sense, anyway, otherwise you better don't try to reconstruct

Did Galeazzo show any particular love for the 16? No. If anybody, then it was Filippo. Chess, geomancy, Michelino-deck, that are 3 arguments. Which argument has Gleazzo? None, as far I do know.
Galeazzo loved tennis, that was another type of man. Filippo loved books and a solitary life.

One has to follow the "probable way".

1441: marriage Francesco and Bianca. Bianca brought the game from Ferrara. Filippo has the present of the deck for the marriage: it is different to that, which Bianca might have brought from Ferrara.

Bianca (*1425) is 16
Francesco (*1401) is 40
40 - 16 = 24

The Cary-Yale had probably:

16 trumps
24 court cards
40 pip cards

Anything wrong? Filippo was a "number-player". The invention of six court cards (resulting in 24 court cards) is without example in any other deck. It was only an artificial trick for special reasons at a given moment, which was "tricky" only in 1441.

I think, 1468 is not impossible, but just not likely. And there are enough other reasons for "1441", the arguments for 1468 are all balanceable.

****
edited 2009, corrections