François Heri and Jean Noblet Tarots

Twinkle Toes....

The flexed feet on the Conver & Dodal Roy de Coupes: I vote for the "woodcut maker ran out of room" hypothesis.

The Dodal Valet Depees' has no frame for his title. Why? Because...there's not enough room.

Might this be further support for the "whoops, I lost track of space" hypothesis.

I certainly have this sort of problem all the time. Run out of time, run out of room, can't get the top button closed....all part of a larger pattern, the Underestimation of Resources and Room Phenomenon.

In the modern era, one example is on the Sun card in the Waite-Smith deck, the "oh shit" extra line. http://home.comcast.net/~vilex/SunComparison/main-Sun.html

[On the "oh shit" phenomenon, by the way, check out the thread I once started for that deck: The Sun's 'extra' ray - a suggested explanation.]

Another interesting point between the Fou cards of Noblet and Heri is the difference in title each gives: "Le Fov" (="Le Fou") for the former; and "Le Fol" for the latter. It's here as if we can also see a progressive change in the usage of the same term with minor variation over time, perhaps (it would be useful to have confirmation or otherwise on this) reflecting the changing language, and hence pointing to an earlier woodcut for decks that prefer 'Fov' over 'Fol' (with 'Mat' having a different and distinct influence).

le pendu [b said:

PENIS![/b]

INDEED! The penis is the most remarkable thing about the Noblet Fool. No one else dares to show it. Did Noblet make it up? Did the other's chicken out? Did tastes change? Do penises go in and out of fashion?

I've often commented that we shouldn't make too much of one deck's iconography, and that we need to take them as a group... but I'm completely ignoring my advice here and declaring YES to Penis! Long live the Noblet Fool!

Click to expand...

I think perhaps they were more comfortable with themselves back then.

Mac22