Quick questions about... Temperance

These threads arise out of some of the general questions on the Marseille, and seek to make it easier to sort and find more specific queries...

Tits out for the lads?

I attach a small image from the restored Dodal which shows Temperance with very detailed breasts - right down to the nipples. My US Games/Carta Mundi version also shows the nipples through the fabric of her dress.

My question is: Is there a tradition of showing Temperance with her breasts exposed?

I am honestly not sure... but have also been struck by this specific version of the card...

What is also strange is that, as far as I am aware, there are no equivalent representations of the period either. Temperance, and its equivalent representations in alchemical representations, is either clothed or semi-naked, but not shown as though she is wearing false breasts.

lactation? perhaps its a symbol of Temperance as thirst quencher - as giver of milk?

Once a woman has birthed and breastfed a baby, the ability to produce milk again at any time in the future remains [even without any more babies to feed]. It could therefore be said that the mother's breast is the only human cornucopia..... a perpetual ability to provide nourishment.

I noticed this when looking at Jean Fiornoy's site in regard to the Dodal. which was, from memory, early 18th century. I have not done an exhaustive comparison but other decks like the Conver and the Fournier don't show Temperance like this. Other cards like le Diable and le Monde do appear to be bare breasted or close to it, however.

In general comments on Angels, the author of Meditations on the Tarot says that Guardian Angels are the manifestations of high and pure maternal love. Temperance is definitely a female angel, even when fully garbed and maybe the bare breasts were simply to signify that this is a female angel, and that she is, as others have said, caring and nurturing.

Maybe it was more common in earlier centuries to represent these characteristics of women in this way?

Oh dear, if I had known the card looked like that I would have never given myself such a name
XTAX

Temperence portrayed this way makes me think of the "wet nurse" who was a common addition to families of the merchant and upper classes. She would provide nourishment and nurturing to children whose mothers were unable (for various possible reasons) to provide for her child/children.

Does anyone know what the rope thing is around her waist?

J

I have just followed a link quoted in an earlier Temperance post in which it says :

'For the ancient Greeks, Temperance was the central virtue of civic life. It represented the restraint of appetite, whether for food, drink, or sex. In classical philosophy, therefore, it stands for the subordination of the physical desires to higher, rational ideals'.

Do you think then, that the rope type belt worn around her waist could be a symbol of this restraint?

J