The History of Things

Rosanne

Ok, now I know what you are interested in Huck.
The major object in my earlier post is the condition, that a whole bench of Sforza Tarocchi cards is dated to 1512.
So you know of this big 'spike' in use because of your and others looking at the sale of them? If so, you are asking why? or maybe 'How'? Or maybe you know the answer to these questions anyway.

As this part is what interests me..
The other parts are "just history". It's interesting to know details of the participating persons.

I know for instance that one year later than the 'spike'. Machiavelli's 'The Prince' was published. Ten years earlier Pope Alexander V1 ordered the burning of books that disparage the Church. It has been 14 years since Savonarola has been burned. Is there a psycological reason for the increased use of this Sforza Tarocchi cards? Does the population
feel more at ease with card playing? Or are there more soldiers around?(The league of Cambrai wars for example) Is there more money around? Are people more egalitarian?
These are the 'History of Things' that fascinate me.
~Rosanne
 

Huck

I know for instance that one year later than the 'spike'. Machiavelli's 'The Prince' was published. Ten years earlier Pope Alexander V1 ordered the burning of books that disparage the Church. It has been 14 years since Savonarola has been burned. Is there a psycological reason for the increased use of this Sforza Tarocchi cards? Does the population
feel more at ease with card playing? Or are there more soldiers around?(The league of Cambrai wars for example) Is there more money around? Are people more egalitarian?
These are the 'History of Things' that fascinate me.
~Rosanne

... :) ... hm, there were about 10 millions of persons in Italy around this time and it's natural, that these produced some phenomenons of historical activity. I don't claim to know all of them, and I think, it's also impossible for everybody else.

There's a simple sentence "nec spe, nec metu", which was taken by Isabella d'Este as a motto. The motto was taken "around 1505", that's recorded.

It was not possible to find the quote at an earlier event, "before 1505". If somebody knows an earlier occurrence, he/she could say so. I would be happy.

The quote appears twice at versions of a specific type of playing card deck, which knows a good handful of appearances ...

Rosenthal Tarocchi, Kaplan I p. 99
Von Barsch Tarocchi, Kaplan I p. 100-102
Victoria & Albert Museum Tarocchi, Kaplan I p. 104
Lombardy II, Tarocchi, Kaplan II (only death, not star) p. 21

... (which is much for an old playing cad deck, which still exists). The type of deck belongs to the Visconti-Sforza cards.

colleoniasso.jpg


There was no good reason between 1505 and first half of 1512 to produce a deck with Visconti-Sforza impresa or other V-S heraldry.

Motivation to produce such a deck might have existed (again) with September 1512 (French troops had left Italy) and later. Big motivation for such a deck existed clearly with the return of Massimiliano Sforza to Milan and his installment as new duke of Milan (December 1512).

That's the idea at its base.

Additionally there has appeared a Croatian flag card in a deck, which partly ALSO belongs to the series of the "handful" of Visconti-Sforza decks with the typical design.

vulgus.jpg


This somehow points to the Frangipani family and to the family of cardinal Gurk, who also was involved in a strong manner in the political events of the year 1512. So it has the role of a "second evidence" for the already existing suspicion or conclusion about the true date of the deck production.

Additionally to that we have a theater play in September 1512 (Isabella d'Este and cardinal Gurk participated), in which possibly the termini "ludus triumphorum" and "Tarochi" appeared together in a context, that the terminus "Tarochi" was attacked and the terminus "ludus triumphorum" was recognized as a "true, valuable expression".

Additionally we have the condition, that Iabella d'Este was just the sister of Alfonso d'Este, who in June 1505 commissioned Tarochi decks, and this event presents in our eyes the first evidence for a use of an expression similar to Tarot in playing card context.

******

So this all looks like the observation of a golf ball hitting the flagged hole by the first strike.

... independent from all the activities of the rest of the 10 millions persons in Italy at the same time. It might be naturally also of interest, what they've done.
Generally it's so, that we don't have much notes about Tarochi for the early period and it had been difficult to find something before 1516 a rather long time in the history of Tarot research. It's only a little bit better now.
 

Rosanne

I guess it is just that you and I ask different questions about Tarot Huck :laugh:

I ask 'why on earth would Isabella's Mot be on playing cards?'
I ask " what was going on in 1505 to get the mot in the first place"

To the first question I answer to myself "It looks like Virgilian Sortes" or "there is a secret message here". At the time her husband was having an affair with her sister-in-law Lucretia Borgia, (married to her brother Alphonso). It must have been public knowledge. How humiliating for her.
Then while her Husband is a prisoner- Isabella becomes the political force and uses these cards as gifts to various people. Her husband is released and hates the fact of her independance and the marriage breaks down. Isabella continues her political and social agenda, until he dies 7 years later, and after as well. These are the cards she prefers, the game she prefers, and they are very apt for the time. Even though she entertained the French, she supported the escspees from Milan. What better Motto?
Timothy 1 6:17 Command those who are rich in this world not to be haughty, neither put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who so richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment .
Good Sorte for playing cards. Good Motto for life- Courage and Bravado.
~Rosanne
 

Huck

I ask 'why on earth would Isabella's Mot be on playing cards?'

There are other motti at other playing cards, in this deck and at other decks. So that's not unusual.
The use of personal impresa on individual playing card decks generally is not rare. Normally it a design for demonstrating ownership or activity in the production. In later cases mostly the two of coins was used to present the producer.

*********

http://www.bidiso.es/slp/necspenecmetu.pdf
In this Spanish article (about "nec spe, nec metu") the author lists impresa used by Isabella d'Este.

vulgus-14.jpg


He also points to the use of the motto by others ... after Isabella d'Este.

vulgus-15.jpg


vulgus-16.jpg


The fame of the motto (and of Isabella Este) developed with her diplomatic role during the war of the League of Cambray starting 1508, in the beginning mainly against the republic of Venice, and in the end against France. It has a lot to do with the international negotiations in Mantova, and a time, in which her husband had been prisoner in Venice and Isabella managed the court in Mantova alone.
From this role developed the condition, that Isabella had a leading hand in the organization of the festivities for Massimiliano Sforza in December 1512 ... an so for this card deck also.

She did chose to present herself at the ace of cups (cups = love). The words spe (from Spes = Hope) and metu (= Fear) remember the composition of 4 Stoic passions, which were used by Matteo Maria Boiardo as suit signs in his Tarocchi poem with Love-Hope-Jealousy-Fear. so the position at the Love-Ace (= cups-Ace) has some internal logic.

FEAR then was given with the word TIMORE and not with METU; likely this poem was arranged in January 1487 for Lucrezia d'Este's wedding. Lucrezia had been the elder half-sister of Isabella d'Este.

The poem stands in a row with other literature produced in Ferrara since 1487, in which women are presented as superior to men. As another early work of this genre is given the work of Bartolomeo Goggio 1490 in Ferrara for Eleanore d'Aragon (Isabella's mother) ...
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.23...&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=60&sid=21103574333917

I ask "what was going on in 1505 to get the mot in the first place"

As far I get it, the motto was commented "around 1505" by poet Mario Equicola ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Equicola
... who didn't invent the motto, but reacted on the already given use of Isabella d'Este.
Isabella d'Este might have taken it a little bit earlier than 1505. Perhaps it was developed in the preparation on the expected death of Isabella's father Ercole d'Este, which naturally would cause a lot of changes inside the Este family. He died really in January 1505. The following start of the rule of Alfonso d'Este developed in short time to serious attacks, rebellion, murder and lifelong prison ... inside the family. The sleeping tensions likely were already obvious in 1504. The choice of the stoic motto might have reflected these tensions ... and even if it had been stated only in regard of a possible too close relationship between Lucrezia Borgia and Isabella's husband.
But the more relevant conflicts were the conflicts of the brothers and the outside attempts to stimulate these conflicts (by Pope Julius, already in 1504).

To the first question I answer to myself "It looks like Virgilian Sortes" or "there is a secret message here". At the time her husband was having an affair with her sister-in-law Lucretia Borgia, (married to her brother Alphonso). It must have been public knowledge. How humiliating for her.
Then while her Husband is a prisoner- Isabella becomes the political force and uses these cards as gifts to various people. Her husband is released and hates the fact of her independance and the marriage breaks down. Isabella continues her political and social agenda, until he dies 7 years later, and after as well. These are the cards she prefers, the game she prefers, and they are very apt for the time. Even though she entertained the French, she supported the escspees from Milan. What better Motto?
Timothy 1 6:17 Command those who are rich in this world not to be haughty, neither put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who so richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment .
Good Sorte for playing cards. Good Motto for life- Courage and Bravado.
~Rosanne

Francesco Gonzaga became Venetian prisoner in July 1509. In July 1510 he was released, so long before the deciding actions in 1512, after Venice had turned to an alliance with pope Julius in early 1510.
Francesco got then a leading military commission from the Chiesa against France and Ferrara, as a result of the diplomatic activities of his wife.

********

The deciding point for playing card research and the dating of the deck is the detail, if the motto "nec spe, nec metu" was used by somebody else before 1505. All what I got to the point, is, that the motto wasn't known. It isn't excluded, that it existed before. But it got a lot of attention from different sides, and these researches seem to have gotten nothing better than a start with Isabella d'Este.

The concrete political conditions of the time are surely interesting, inclusive the personal feelings of Isabella d'Este, but not necessary for the dating.

The second interesting point is, if there was another political situation, in which somebody might have developed an interest to make a new Visconti-Sforza deck after 1500 and before 1512 ... I don't see a reason.
 

Huck

We had this one earlier ...

... you get the eaerlier statement in other context with: Search engine for ... Huck "Tarot, Tarock, Tarocchi" Hoffmann Dietrich 1988 ...

from "Tarot, Tarock, Tarocchi", Hoffmann, Dietrich, 1988

The German comment says: Likely a remake of 19th century according a technical research of 1955. The first is the falconer (Fool 1), the second was identified as "Queen of Cups".

It's rather obvious, that this falconer is very similar to the falconer at Kaplan I, Rosenthal Tarocchi, p. 99. The so-called "queen-of-cups" (plausible, if one looks at the picture in the book), however, is rather very similar to the Star in the same deck type (I didn't find a Queen of cups in all the variants, that I know).

vulgus-17.jpg


vulgus-18.jpg


The star picture is also given in the Albert&Victoria museum and also between the 5 new cards with the heraldry from Croatia.

vulgus-19.jpg


It's a star and not a cup.

So, if the German analysis "c. 19th century" for their cards is true, what shall we take of all of this? If an artist copied just an older deck, then one could get information about a possibly 15th or 16th century deck from the forgery.
However, if an artist in 19th century just got the fancy to make "historical cards of his own imagination", I might be rather fooled.

Kaplan notes in the description of the Rosenthal Tarocchi, that "the 23 socalled Rosenthal cards were offered in 1939 to a leading American collector, who declined to purchase them because he believed the cards were a much more recent rendition of 15th century Tarocchi cards."
So also there was the argument of a "forgery", but if the motif series indeed was copied from an earlier, really old deck, it still would have informative value.

*********

The new 5 "old cards" have a not very attractive card with a Croatian heraldy, which only makes sense after a longer historical study of the given Tarocchi context.
It seems not plausible, that a 19th century forgery expert would have chosen such a strange context.

From this it seems, that the motifs are (at least in parts) indeed old.
 

Rosanne

There are other motti at other playing cards, in this deck and at other decks. So that's not unusual.
The use of personal impresa on individual playing card decks generally is not rare. Normally it a design for demonstrating ownership or activity in the production. In later cases mostly the two of coins was used to present the producer.
I meant 'why?' that one in particular, but you answered that in the poem with suits of 'Love/Hope/Jealousy/Fear '.

Do you agree that 'Nec spe, nec metu' is a shortened version and has the meaning
"A person without Hope, is a person without Fear" ?
If so...there seems to be a biography of Isabella that suggests the Motto came from her father. Her father apparently offered a motto but Isabella wanted an 'new and unique' one.
This seems to be an indication that you will not find anyone earlier than her with the motto.
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=...a=X&ei=HgkVU4CDH8i1iQeGy4CYAQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ
~Rosanne
 

Huck

I meant 'why?' that one in particular, but you answered that in the poem with suits of 'Love/Hope/Jealousy/Fear '.

Do you agree that 'Nec spe, nec metu' is a shortened version and has the meaning
"A person without Hope, is a person without Fear" ?
If so...there seems to be a biography of Isabella that suggests the Motto came from her father. Her father apparently offered a motto but Isabella wanted an 'new and unique' one.
This seems to be an indication that you will not find anyone earlier than her with the motto.
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=...a=X&ei=HgkVU4CDH8i1iQeGy4CYAQ&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ
~Rosanne

Yes, I remember to have seen something like this, too, earlier. But this "Niccolo" (in your Link) is not her father ... see here ..
http://archive.org/stream/cu31924082155171/cu31924082155171_djvu.txt

After the death of the Duchess Beatrice this
...
1497/98 ????
...
brilliant cavalier left Milan to visit his old home at
Correggio, but feared to accept a pressing invitation
from Isabella to bring his daughter, Leonora, to see
her, lest he should bring the plague to Mantua. On
the 8th of June he wrote from the heart of Petrarch's
country : —

" To-morrow, my dear lady, I am going to dine at
Selvapiena, two miles from Rosena, where the most
celebrated Messer Francesco Petrarca composed
so many works. It is a pleasant spot, fit for such
exercises, and if you read the life which is printed
with his sonnets and triumphs, you will see it
mentioned. So I go there joyfully, in spite of the
long journey to Rosena, which is twenty-five miles
from Correggio and a very remote place. I shall
remain there some days and await the commands of
Your Excellency, whose slave I am for ever."

In July he came to Mantua, and falling ill soon
after his departure, wrote gallantly to his lady : " I
parted with Your Excellency and with my own
health at the same moment." The following May
found him again at Correggio, from which place he
wrote to tell Isabella that he hoped soon to be
allowed to visit the "retreat of the Grotta," to
which his secretary, the accomplished soldier and
poet who went by the name of "II prete di
Correggio," had been lately admitted. "If I am
allowed this favour I shall count myself honoured
indeed, and if you do not let me in, I must reluctantly
confess my inferiority and seek to learn of my
more fortunate servant." A few days afterwards,
Isabella wrote begging him to send her a suitable
motto for Cristoforo's medal. In reply, Niccolo



168 NICCOLO'S LETTERS

suggested the Latin words, Benemerentium causa,
which, however, did not please her, as she had seen
this motto before and desired something entirely
new and original, upon which Niccolo replied, on the
18th of May :—


" It certainly would not do for a lady of so rare
a merit to adopt a motto which had ever been used
by another, although I must own that I had never
seen it before. Nevertheless to please my sovereign
lady I will say Benemerentium ergo, which has the
same meaning as Benemerentium causa. This will
show you how blindly I obey Your Excellency I I
send back your cavalier as quickly as possible, only
grieving that I cannot be with you myself for
another week, as I must go to Milan, — Your servant,
Niccolo da Correggio,

" P.S. — I have thought of two more lines which
I will add, although they are of Uttle worth.

Naturae officium
Gratitudinis studio."

Niccolo met the Marchesa again in the following
spring at Ferrara, where she entertained her father's
guests and presided at the carnival balls and fetes.
After the Moro's faU he fixed his residence once
more at Duke Ercole's court, where he was much
beloved by aU the princes of Este and became a
devoted admirer of Alfonso's second wife, Lucrezia
Borgia. But he stiU owned allegiance to Isabella,
and sent her canzoni and capitoli on the pattern of
his favourite Petrarch's compositions. One sonnet of
his which especially pleased her was composed in
memory of a beautiful youth in Rome, who had
lately died in the arms of his mistress. Isabella on
her part sent him presents of fish from Garda, and



TO ISABELLA 169

when, in 1506, his son Galeazzo married the fair and
accomphshed Ginevra Rangoni she presented the
bride with a splendid clavichord. "Your Excel-
lency," wrote Niccolo from Correggio, " has sent a
most beautiful clavichord to my daughter-in-law, and
has very kindly ordered Domino Philippi to put it in
order. Besides the thanks which my daughter her-
self is sending you, I felt that I must thank you
personally for these favours, for which we cannot be
too grateful. As for the song which you ask me to
select from Petrarch, I have chosen one of those
which I like best, beginning: Si e debole il filo a cui
s^atiene, which seems to me weU suited for your
ptupose, containing verses which must be sung by
tiirn crescendo and diminuendo. With it I send
one of my own songs, composed in a similar metre,
which you can sing to the same tune as the Petrarca
canzone, and also a poem in imitation of Petrarch's
Chiare, dold e fresche acque. Once more I com-
mend myself to your good graces, and am keeping
Domino PhUippi tiU to-morrow," ^

But Isabella was never satisfied, and a few months
later wrote in great distress because her favourite
maid of honour had lately died, and no one could
find the last capitoli and sonnets which Niccolo had
sent her. Fortunately Niccolo, who, as a rule, never
transcribed his verses, was able to supply another copy
of the poem beginning with the words : Non si e
ardito il cor, which the Marchesa especially wished
to read, and with his old gallantry wrote that, old as
he was growing, he was still young enough to dance
with her, and to ride at the ring, and break a lance,
for her sake, in the coming jousts.

Niccolo da Correggio * 1449, son of the 3rd girl in Ferrara at 1.1.1441, Beatrice d'Este.

So, as the text is, it's not totally clear, when this precisely was (the year). And it makes not clear, where and when Isabella found her motto.
 

Huck

This seems to be "Christoforo's medal" (mentioned in the text as the reason for the request of a motto), and apparently the motto used is NOT "nec spe, nec metu".

It's BENEMERENTIUM ERGO ("For those who are well deserving"), which is close to that, what Niccolo da Correggio had suggested: "Benemerentium causa"

p_medal.jpg

http://www.wga.hu/html_m/r/romano/p_medal.html
... also here:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explor...jects/cm/c/cast_bronze_medal_of_isabella.aspx

Some further interesting notes on the medal, which still was something in 1506/07 ...
http://books.google.de/books?id=iPP...age&q=christoforo medal isabella este&f=false
 

Huck

"Pen" in 2010 had found this ...

From: Isabella d'Este: Marchioness of Mantua 1474-1539 a Study of the Renaissance Vol. 1
On the Marchesa's return home, the alarming increase of the plague compelled her to leave Mantua and take her children to the villa of Sacchetta, where they spent the summer months. Here, on her birthday, the 16th of May, she received a present of exceptional interest in the shape of a treatise, composed by Mario Equicola, on her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu.

The Marchesa, as we have already seen, in common with most Italian lords and ladies of the age, was in the habit of adopting special devices and mottoes. The musical notes which gave expression to her love of music, the candelabra bearing the motto Sufficit unum in tenebris which Paolo Giovio suggested, and which were embroidered in gold on her festal robes, may still be seen among the decorations of her camerini at Mantua. There too, inscribed in quaint characters, we may read the words of her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu, by which she expressed that serene equanimity and philosophic frame of mind to which she aspired, neither elated by hope nor cast down by fear. She chose this motto for her own as early as 1504, when, at the request of her friend Margherita Cantelma, she gave one of the Imperial ambassadors who visited Mantua and Ferrara gracious permission to use the words in writing and in his armorial bearings and on the liveries of his servants, "we ourselves," she wrote at the time, "being the inventor of this motto, and having adopted it as our peculiar device." In the following autumn Mario Equicola, the Calabrian secretary of Margherita Cantelma, who had followed her and Sigismondo to Ferrara, and was often employed by the Este princes, wrote from Blois to inform Isabella that he had written a book on this device, and only awaited her permission to publish the work.

"Most illustrious Lady, -- It was the custom of ancient authors to seek for noble and excellent subjects in order to render their works immortal. Signora mia, although I am only a poor man of letters, I thank God, who has allowed me to serve Your Excellency, from whose rare talents and lively wit I hope some of my writings may acquire fame and authority. In this firm hope, I have composed a book of some forty sheets, in interpretation of Nec spe nec metu, making mention of the words on every page. In the said book I introduce discussions on the meaning of this motto, which will show Your Signory the methods of ancient poetry, philosophy, and theology, connecting Nec Nec nec metu with each in turn, and praising this motto above all others ever composed. I beg you to give me leave to publish and print this little work, and if you wish, will send it to you before it is published. I await your pleasure, certifying that the twenty-seven chapters on this inscription are nearly finished, after which I will illustrate the musical signs."

Mario had apparently divided his book into twenty-seven paragraphs, in allusion to the mystic number XXVII., vinte sette, another device adopted by Isabella, which, we learn from Paolo Giovio, signified that all the sects (sette) of her enemies were conquered (vinte). Isabella readily gave the desired permission, and the book, printed and bound in elegant covers, was presented to her by Margherita Cantelma on her next birthday. "Your letter and the book which Madonna Margherita sent us," wrote Isabella in reply, "are a more delightful birthday present than any gift of gold or other precious things,since you have thereby exalted our little device to sublime heights."

See ...
https://www.google.de/search?q=Pen+...&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=-VEVU_HYGsiKtQbE7oEI

Well, this looks satisfying ... I'd forgotten, where I did see this.

A year later (2011) I replied:

I earlier searched a longer time for somebody else, who might have used the relevant motto "Nec spe nec metu". I didn't found somebody ... which somehow led to the conclusion, that these cards might be later than the time, when Isabelle adapted the motto (which is generally said to have happened 1504/05).

With this we're very near to the period, when Alfonso in 1505 ordered the Taroch cards in June 1505, also near to the death of Ercole d'Este (father of Isabelle and Alfonso) in January 1505, and the whole d'Este brother crisis, which shocked Italy in 1505/06 (two brothers went to prison for nearly all their later life) - a general phase of new orientation in the family.
Isabella had then the custom to play with cards in the evenings. In her studiolo she had a sort of writing desk, in which she collected - between other worthwhile small objects - nice playing cards. So Isabella was one of the earliest known playing card collectors, another, who is known for a playing card collection is Hartmann Schedel, who made 1493 Nurremberg world chronic.
.... (and more)

Ross noted then ...

Ross G. R. Caldwell said:
Apparently John Shephard once argued that the card [with nec spe nec metu] was actually the World!

He also apparently found connections between the Este and Colleoni families (the shield is Bartolomeo Colleoni - 1400-1475).

"Shephard maintains that the pack from which these four cards come was a baptismal gift. The father of Isabella, Ercole d'Este, duke of Ferrara, was the uncle of Niccolò da Correggio, whose wife was Cassandra, daughter of the famous condottiero Bartolomeo Colleoni (1400-1476). In 1492, at the baptism of Isotta, daughter of Niccolò and Cassandra, the marquis Francesco II Gonzaga, husband of Isabella, held the baby in his arms at the baptismal font. Shephard believes that this occasion is the reason for which these cards were made."
(Dummett, Il Mondo e l'Angelo (1993), p. 60. (my translation))

... (and more)

... and from the momentary perspective it's an interesting detail, that Niccolo da Correggio (son of Beatrice d'Este, the 3rd girl in Ferrara 1.1.1441) and Cassandra (daughter of Colleoni) called her daughter Isotta (Isotta had been the name of Beatrice's half-sister, the 2nd girl in Ferrara 1.1.1441, earlier studied in this thread) in the year 1492.

Cassandra lived till 1519, surviving her husband (+1508), I don't know, what happened to the daughter.

Ross had then added ...

The following discussion of Isabella's use of the motto is from Stephen John Campbell, The Cabinet of Eros: Renaissance Mythological Painting in the Studiolo of Isabella d'Este, (Yale UP, 2004), pp. 77-78.

campbellnecspe78.jpg

campbellnecspe78.jpg

... which gives a date of the first use.

On own research Ross had then found ...

The phrase "nec spe nec metu" occurs in a Latin translation of Lucian (of Samosata), "Life of Demonax" (Demonactis Vita), of which the earliest I can find was made by Lapo da Castiglioncho (he only lived 1405-1438).

Interrogatus a quodam Demonax, quis nam suo iudicio faelicitatis Terminus haberetur, Dixit solum liberum esse faelicem. Illo dicente multos esse liberos, "At illum, inquit, puto qui nec timet aliquid nec sperat". "Qui istud, inquit, ille fieri potest? ut plurimum enim omnes istis servimus" . "At vero, respondit Demonax, Si animadvertas hominum res invenies Vtique eas nec spe nec metu dignas.

Lapo - as far I remember - had been in Ferrara (council) in 1438, possibly he died there (there was a plague in autumn). The young girls Isotta and Beatrice might have known him. Lucian is "funny" and perhaps Lapo was also funny.

Ross added a translation and asked a question...

Lucian, Life of Demonax,
“Asked for a definition of Happiness, he said that only the free was happy. 'Well,' said the questioner, 'there is no lack of free men.'--'I count no man free who is subject to hopes and fears.'--'You ask impossibilities; of these two we are all very much the slaves.' 'Once grasp the nature of human affairs,' said Demonax, 'and you will find that they justify neither hope nor fear, since both pain and pleasure are to have an end.'”
(trans. Fowler, 1905)

Who first translated Lucian into Latin? This might suggest where both Bartolomeo Colleoni and Isabella d’Este got it.
(it might be in Gianolo’s footnote, but I can’t see that)

As far I know it, Lucian wasn't completely translated. Somehow he was detected around this time. Guarino made his texts known to Alberti, and Alberti translated two texts(I think, short after 1440. Further he wrote then in longer years his "Momus" (till 1450), reflecting a Lucian theme.

Ross gave then pictures to show, that the Ace of Cups had also Colleoni heraldry.

colleoniasso.jpg


colleoni1.jpg


Isabella naturally should have known her aunt Beatrice d'Este, who was a great Lady at the Sforza court, and she naturally should have known Cassandra (Niccolo da Correggio's wife).

Cassandra wrote, and a text has survived, with a focus on Penelope and Ulysses.

************

Searching for Cassandra I find this person ...

220px-Correggio%2C_Ritratto_di_dama%2C_c.1517-1518.jpg


... Veronica Gambara, a writer ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Gambara

... and she appears in this book about the painter Antonio da Correggio ...
http://archive.org/stream/antonioallegrida00riccuoft/antonioallegrida00riccuoft_djvu.txt

... and in this book
"Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time"; from the Italian by Florence Simmonds.
... is a note:

Among the friends of her [Veronica Gambara] own sex who were often with her were
Ginevra Rangoni, the widow of Gian Galeazzo, who married Luigi
Gonzaga some time after 1517, and Cassandra, daughter of the great
captain, Bartolomeo Colleoni. On the death of her husband, Nicolo
da Correggio, in 1508, Cassandra had retired to a convent founded by
him, taking with her her daughter Isotta. She was afterwards joined
by her other daughter, Beatrice, who returned from Parma on the
death of her husband, Nicolo Sanvitale. Both Beatrice (whom Ariosto
sang under the name of Mamma) and her sister enlivened the solitude
of the cloistral cell with poetry and song
. Well might it be said, in the
words of Messer Lodovico :

" Oh ' di che belle e sagge donne veggio,
Oh ! di che cavalieri il lito adorno !
Oh ! di che amici, a chi in eterno deggio
Per la letizia ch' 'an del mio ritorno !
Mamma e Ginevra, e 1' altre da Correggio
Veggo del molo in su 1'estremo corno ;
Veronica da Gambara e con loro
Si grata a Febo e al santo aonio coro."

Many others sang her praises besides the great Ferrarese poet.
Among the most famous of her eulogists were Vittoria Colonna, Casio,
Sannazaro, Trissino, Ruscelli, Lilio Giraldi, Bernardo Tasso, who
spoke of her as " the glory of the feminine sex," Bandello, Varchi, who
lauded her " fluent and agreeable" speech, Dolci, Bembo, Molza, and
Giovanni della Casa. Later, Possevino called her the " Italian Sappho."
Charles V. told her she was dear to him for many reasons, but chiefly
for " her virtue and renown."
 

Rosanne

Firstly I will add, what I forgot in a previous post.
The new 5 "old cards" have a not very attractive card with a Croatian heraldy, which only makes sense after a longer historical study of the given Tarocchi context.
It seems not plausible, that a 19th century forgery expert would have chosen such a strange context.

From this it seems, that the motifs are (at least in parts) indeed old.
Your deductions Huck seem logical to me- that the deck is older than reported.

The medal infomation is very interesting, and I understand why she chose it, her ideas at least. The Motto understanding is clearer as well.(No Hope,No Fear)
"..an essentially therapuetic goal the placing of oneself beyond susceptibility to debilitating emotions.
I like the view of Saggitarius as her star given right to rule, on the reverse of the medal. I knew I had read it somewhere about Lucien, when I was looking at Leon Battista Alberti. My little brain could not recall it. My notes say a Giovanni Aurispa was a translator of Lucien, he was a tutor of Meliaduese d'Este at the Court in Ferrara.
If the cards with the motto were made for the baptism as Ross said he had found comment, it still does not explain the group around 1512- except that they had something to do with Isabella.
Thanks for the interesting post Huck, I have learned a lot about Isabella (and her cards)
~Rosanne
Edit to add extra info: Aurispa must be wrong in part because I found this...
Florentine, of 1496, the first edition by J. Lascaris, from the press of L. de Alopa.