Huck
Mails (autorbis) Part II
Next Mail: An Answer
### Yes, and there are in the text only two books. So what has
happened? I guess, Lazzarelli was disturbed .. inner or outer forces
changed the original concept. In my opinion the first concept knew
two bookes in the style of the Boiardo poem:
1 main pair = Poetry and Music
10 other pairs = Spheres and Muses-Group
A recognizeable reason to be disturbed was, that he simply hadn't
enough stuff for the Muses. His inspiration didn't find a way to
close this gap. So he announced a third book, but probably not with
artes liberales, but with additional gods ... then he started to
fulfill this second plan, but was stopped in his activities.
In the text the "hero" of Lazzarelli is Federico Montefeltro. But the
cover originally was dedicated to Borso. Borso died 1471. Lazzarelli
had to change course, probably the poem wasn't finished. As far I
remember our earlier research somewhere Federico is addressed as
duke, but he became duke in 1474, so the actually finishing date
seems to be much later.
Perhaps the whole object rested years. We've other examples of poetry
and we know, that such things could take years. Pulci started 1460
his Orlando and was published 1478. Petrarca had 18 years or so for
his Trionfi and they stayed unfinished. They didn't write in prose.
In such long times a lot of things change.
Kaplan wrote in a way about the manuscript, that anybody would think,
that 1471 is a "fixed date" and "sure". But this seems nonsense.
Definitely Federico is addressed in the text, not Borso. The
dedication to Borso was only identified on the cover, and somebody
had tried to repair the cover, but didn't work so well, that Borso's
dedication was not readable.
Why didn't they take a new cover? Book covers were expensive and
poets are poor, so trivial is life. And Federico had a lot of persons
engaged to get a huge library. Lazzarelli was only one of them.
> Moreover, it goes remembered that the Pasquale Rotondi proposal, in
> its monography on the Ducale Palace of Urbino published in 1950,
> supported that such illustrations had been the figurative sources
for
> the paintings of the Muse nel Tempietto of such palace. An ulterior
> and last important aspect, that still remains to question, is that
of
> the relationships between images and text, above all in relation to
> the figure of the author, Ludovico Lazzarelli (San Severino Marche,
> 1450-1500), philosopher-poet with a particular interest for the
> hermetic culture."
> -Lucia Calzona
>
http://www.italica.rai.it/rinascimento/parole_chiave/schede/lazzare.ht
> m
>
> DU SYSTÈME DU SAVOIR À L'ORDRE DES MYTHES Les dieux antiques dans
les
> spectacles italiens du XVe siècle Correzione Dondi. Precisa rif. A
> stampa Lazzarelli in Epistola Enoch
>
> "In the text of Lazzarelli emerges the association of imaginary
> cosmography and mythology which inspires the decoration of the
rooms
> of the palaces of the courses and the public seats despouvoirs, in
> the cycles of profane monumental painting."
>
> "The writings of Ludovico Lazzarelli, the singer of the tournament
of
> Padua,
### yes, I remember, I've read that too, he also made music, that's
an important detail.
are among the links which transmit the names of the gods of
> the circles of the humanists to the appearances in the streets, in
> the visual medium of the Renaissance town. According to his
> biography, "he found in a shop of bookseller, in Venice, a
collection
> of very beautiful figures of the Divinities of Nice with several
> images representing the Liberal arts. On these images he composed
his
> work intitled De deorum gentilium imaginibus, which he sent to
> Frederic, duke of Urbino "26.
>
http://www.univaq.it/culturateatrale/materiali/Guarino/tours2002/Guari
> noTours2002.pdf
Link doesn't work. But I know this story. As far I remember, on the
base of this found "artes liberales" it was concluded, that
Lazzarelli had something with artes liberales in mind. But this is
not sure ...
But the story, that he detected the pictures in a Venetian bookstore
looks plausible. The time is probably 1470/71 ... and that's a
crucial point of change in book culture, especially in Venice.
Printing exploded. The whole genre of book production changed. Old
rules of writing a book vanished. New possibiities, engraving art got
its market.
In very few years a lot of things changed, a revolution. The writer
didn't need a book-painter at his side. Lazzarelli just found some
engravings and got a new idea, "how to compose a book", that was part
of this revolutionary new way. This was not possible before.
The price for book-production went down, and a little later also
that, what a writer could win by writing also.
Probably most person reading this passage about "found some
engravings", would have the idea, that Lazzarelli found the Mantegna-
deck. But I guess, they go wrong with this idea.
The Mantegna simply didn't exist. The whole story of the Lazzarelli
manuscript wouldn't make sense, when the Mantegna already existed. It
would have been not logical, when Lazzarelli had copied the Mantegna
and transformed parts of it in his book. Very likely he would have
taken other engravings.
Somebody suggesting, that Lazzarelli didn't know the Mantegna? There
were not so much persons dancing around the courts in the rank of
poets, probably Lazzarelli would have noted it.
But ... if anybody knows of any real argument, why the Mantegna
should or must have been produced before 1470 ... or better ...
before 1474, please tell me the argument.
I'm ready to learn and to listen. I know of two arguments, both from
Hind. He declares somewhere, that there is a source, which contains 2
1/2 cards (or better motifs) around 1465 and another containing
5 figures ... and that's all. Unluckily I haven't seen the
sources completely, but I guess, this are pictures without numbers.
My simple counter argument: 7 1/2 existing motifs do not prove the
existence of 50 ... that's a simple logical error.
The story of Lazzarelli tells, that he found some engravings in a
Venetian store ... okay, it sounds natural, that some of
these "found" engravings were already used at other occasions (and
this condition already fits the problem of Hind), but this does not
mean, that the Mantegna existed or that all 50 motifs were available.
The situation was so, that it demanded just a creative mind to sort
these existing engraving´s in a way, that they developed a nice
complete "whole". And that was, what Lazzarelli made, cause he was
a "creative" head. He made his 22 concept and stranded then with a
27, as far his manuscript was concerned.
But who made then the Mantegna? .... nobody knows, but the first
address for research is .. of course ... Lazzarelli, cause he has
already proven, that he knew this pictures. And probably he loved
them. And his nasty experience with his book perhaps left something,
that he had to complete his work ... finding a real concept.
Alright, but I've to wait for all the voices which wish to defend
the "Mantegna was made 1470" - theory.
It's your turn.
Next Mail: Another Answer
I don't know, what John suggested. I said, that Lazzarelli would be
the first address, which should be researched as the originator of
the Mantegna, if it is summarizing to the point, that earlier
assumptions don't have enough evidence to force a statement like "the
Mantegna was produced around 1470".
The case is like in the Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo-Tarocchi: Some people
saw some motifs and filled the missing places, with the exspectation,
that that, what they not saw, was there in the background. They saw 7
1/2 motifs from the 60ies and the somehow datable Lazzarelli-text and
concluded, that the Mantegna "must have existed", complete, with
numbers, with 50 cards, as ideas.
But studying the Lazzarelli-text itself indicates, that the Mantegna
doesn't exist. An easy study of the Lazzarelli-text was not possible
till O'Neals translation, so contradictions stayed unobserved.
Perhaps that's the story of an error, but it should be investigated.
If there is no more "hard fact" than above described, than Lazzarelli
would be the first and natural address.
But naturally ... I simply ask only for the hard facts of the 1470
estimation. Neither Hind's 7 1/2 paintings nor the Lazzarelli text
itself seem to present real evidence. Is there anything else?
Next Mail: A surprizing detection, found a new link
This link gives very good informations of the detailed sort, just
displaying titles and other things, just in the original state.
One point is very interesting: 11 poets in 13 poems praise Ludovico
Lazzarelli and this must go back to action's in the 1480's in Rome,
and should be related to an accedemia with the name "Accademia
Pomponiana in Rome".
One of the praising poets is dead in 1484, so Lazzarelli must have
been in Rome before that date. As Federico Montefeltro, which perhaps
was Lazzarelli's sponsor longer time, was dead in 1482, it seems
logical to assume, that Lazzarelli in search for a new sponsor went
then to Rome and impressed the public (perhaps this happened earlier,
but there is so much darkness around Lazzarelli, so it's a working
hypothesis.
Lazzarelli lets his "Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio" do his
unbelievable action (which seems to have all signs, that it should
have been meant metaphorical) either Eastern 1484 or 1485 (this is
unclear).
We have in the greater world a Pope Sixtus, dying 1484, with a tomb
with similarities to the Mantegna Tarocchi ... if we assume, that
this Pope sponsored Lazzarelli, then there is a logical connection
between Lazzarelli presenting the 50 ;Mantegna pictures in Rome and
this tomb of Pope Sixtus.
As far I can see it ... these poets praise Ludovico Lazzarelli,
not "Giovanni Mercurio da Corregggio".
In his later life Ludovico Lazarelli speaks in his crater hermetis
of "calling souls in the world" .... well, assuming, that he had
invented a somehow never really born "Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio"
as a sort of pseudonym and perhaps already 1492 realised, that
persons existed then, who believed, that this Giovanni Mercurio was
real, then the real Lazzarelli had experience, what this means ...
Already in the 70ies - in the Tarot relevant text here discussed -
Lazzarelli invents Gods which appear and discuss with him. Lazzarelli
had experience to "invent souls". Well, it's just a game of poetical
imagination, not more ... but if one becomes intensive with that,
such things can become quite real.
If this - assumed by me - relation between Niccolo da Correggio and
Lazzarelli really existed .... just parallel to Lazzarelli's
successes in Rome Niccolo Correggio started with theater-experiments
in Ferrara ... and theater, as cinema and TV live from the effect
to "invocate" unreal situations, as if they are real. As theater was
a very new feature in the 1480 this new form of art _expression found
innocent souls ...
The real address to study the context should be this Accademia
Pomponiana.
Here's the link and the relevant text:
http://webtext.library.yale.edu/beinflat/pre1600.MS391.htm
7. ff. 243r-246r[Thirteen poems by others in honor of Lazarelli:]
Fabritius Varaneus. Nunc celebrare facit consumpti nomen homeri/
Ilias
aeneis uirgiliumque refert/...Altius extollent tanto te laude minores/
Materia quanto clarius extat opus. [8 verses]; Platyna. Nunc liquido
apparet sententia uera platonis/ Alternas rerum iam remeare
uices...Hunc mage
commendat sed Christi uerior aetas/ Et scriptum uere religionis opus.
[12
verses]; Sulpitius Verulanus, O cui caelesti conflagrat pectus amore/
Et qui cum signis annua festa canis/...Mistica non uulgo sic tu
sanctissime
uates/ Vnica Piceni fama perennis agri. [6 verses]; Idem. Loris
aetherei tonantis actus/ Missis prodigijs iocisque uatum/...Hoc uerum
est
sapere haud labore uano/ Tot nugas aperire fabularum. [8 verses];
Paulus
Marsus. Sic uicina mihi quamuis Nasonis alumni/ Natalis tellus dux
sit et ille mihi/...Si caneretis idem veterumque abscederet error/
Equatum parili lance sederet onus. [16 verses]; Astreus. Quid
proceres
populis tribuit quibus ampla regendis/ Sceptra deus largas quiue
tenetis opes/...At tibi si desint nunc dona solubilis evi/ Praemia
perpetui te lodouice manent. [16 verses]; Ex C. Laurentij Eustothij
silua
qua plurimi recentiores poetae laudantur recitata romae in Symposio
domini Francisci Diedi oratoris ueneti ad Sixtum iiii^^m Pontificem
Maximum. Sed mens expectat uates seque inserit ultro/ Lazarellus
inops
fastos namque ipse per omnes/...Ad tua iam Brenti proauus cui
caerula uentit/ Equor in adriacum turbatis flumina lymphis. [38
verses];
Lippus. Hec uates nostri modo suscipe pignus amoris/ Carmina si
nostrum
pignore pectus eget/...Duremus tamen his etiam finem afferet aetas/
Saepe
redit pulsa nube serena dies. [28 verses]; Sinthius. Maxima iuliacis
creuere uolumina sacris/ Multaque telchinum mystica sacra
notant/...Auguror
a Sixto dabitur tibi mitra bicuspis/ Et tua nec fugiet plectra
secundus honor.
20 verses]; Pamphilus. Temporis o nostri uates clarissime carmen/ Hoc
nostrum expleto perlege iudicio/...Hinc tibi fama decus nummi noua
gloria
surget / Sic tu defunctus nomine uiuus eris. [10 verses]; Macharius
Camers
eques et Poeta. Clara nouis caelo properat septempeda fastis/ Aurea
dum
festos iungit ad astra dies/ Irrita cum causis valeant tua tempora
sulmo/ Editur
aeternae relligionis [sic]
opus. [4 verses, complete here]; Fabritius Varaneus Presul camerin
[us?]. Qui ueteres adamas tamen relegisque poetas/ Vatibus ingenium
credis
abesse nouis/...Vincere materia non inficiabere nostrum/ Et rerum et
serie
carminis ire pares. [14 verses]; Io. Georgius Cassianus. Quondam
iuliaco
suffusi flamine uates/ Non nisi quod sacrum est explicuere pii/...
Sic natale solum ciue hoc Septempeda gaude/ Huius et exemplo quisque
poeta mere [20 verses]. f.246v blank
Eleven poets are represented; most of those identified in
Cosenza are
associated with the Accademia Pomponiana in Rome in the 1480's; they
are:
Fabrizio Varano, bishop of Camerino, fl. 1503-13; Bartolomeo Scacchi
Platina,
historian of the papacy, 1421-81; Giovanni Sulpizio da Veroli (in
Campania),
grammarian, fl. s. xv^^ex; Paolo Marsi, poet, 1440-84; P. Astreus da
Perugia,
fl. s. xv^^ex; "Laurentius Eustothius's" poem recited in Rome before
Sixtus
IV (1471-84); Lorenzo de' Lippi from Colle, near Florence, fl. s.
xv^^ex; Pietro
Leoni Cinzio from Ceneda in the province of Treviso, fl. s. xv;
a "Pamphilus"
wrote an epitaph on Aesop published in Rome 1475. All but the 38
verses
by Laurentius Eustothius were published from this manuscript by
G. F. Lancellotti, L. Lazzarelli poetae laureati Bombyx... (St. Jesi,
1765).
Next Mail: Another link
http://www.europadellecorti.it/bc/bc22.htm
"Sisto IV (1471-1484)
Il possesso:
Le feste per Eleonora d'Aragona
Le cene e gli spettacoli
Lo spettacolo del mago ermetico
L'accademia pomponiana"
Next Mail: Success, "Mercurio" seems to be identified
The dragon seems to be killed:
The mysterious Giovanni "Mercurio" da Corregio, which did so
phantastic things in Rome, as described by Lazzarelli, should be, as
already earlier "only suggested", really be simply the well known
Niccolo da Correggio.
From the life of Niccolo da Corregio, son of Beatrice d'Este
(girlfriend of Bianca-Maria Visconti) and step-son of Tristano Sforza:
1469 in Ferrara at the visit of the Emperor. Defintely he
knows Lazzarelli, who also is in Ferrara at this occasion, and who is
at this the youthful superstar, the declared poetus laureatus.
1471: Mentioned to have accompanied duke Borso to Rome.
from here till April 1485 he is not mentioned to have been in Rome
1482: Involved in the Ferrara-Venetia war.
Nov. 1482: Captured by the Venetians. In prison, about 10 monthes.
Sept. 1483: Liberated in exchange for 4 Venetians. Is reported to be
in Ferrara after that with duke Ercole d'Este.
No source between Sept. 83 - jan. 1485. The war ends.
Febr. 1485: Accompanies Ercole d'Este to Venetia. Participates at an
tournament organised by or for Roberto da San Severino (condottieri).
March 1485: As pilgrim in Loreto
Apr. 1485: Visits Perugia and Roma together with the signore of
Bologna, Giovanni di Bentivoglio
######## That's precisely the date, which Lazzarelli gives. Eastern 1985. ########
June 1485: In Piemont with Duke Ercole.
April 1486: in Rome again in militaric mission
Jan. 1487: Theater activities in Ferrara, "Cephalos", commedia
April 1487: in Rome again
-----
An alternative would be, that Niccolo was accompanied by another
person (a relative) also with the name Correggio, but this seems very
unlikely.
Lothar End
###############################################
Huck now
to sum it up:
in the article of Hanegraaff "Sympathy to the devil" some informations are given to the not very well known Ludovico Lazzaralli:
"Little is known about the author [29]. Lazzarelli (1450-1500) was one of the many minor Italian humanists of the period, part of whose works are still accessible only in manuscript. He seems to have studied mathematics and astrology, and Greek as well as Hebrew. We are told that Lazzarelli exorcized impure spirits by the sign of the cross, predicted the future, and at one time fell under the suspicion of magical practice (Kristeller 1938, 226). Especially interesting is his connection with the strange figure of Giovanni "Mercurio" da Correggio (?1451-?), a wandering prophet who made a spectacular appearance in Rome on palm sunday 1485. The episode has been described in detail in an anonymous Epistola Enoch, attributed to Lazzarelli [30]. Correggio rode to the Vatican on a black horse, then left the city, to return riding a donkey, clothed in a blood-stained linen robe, and carrying a crown of thorns on his head. Correggio presented himself to the people as Jesus of Nazareth's chosen servant and son, and referred to himself as Pimander. This, as well as his added name Mercurio, demonstrate his self-identification as the hermetic Christ [31]. Lazzarelli appears to have seen in Giovanni da Correggio his spiritual master, who had effected his "spiritual regeneration" [32]. It is in this context that the Crater Hermetis must be understood."
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/printable/SympdevilFastprintable.html
The mentioned Mercurio alias Giovanni da Correggio is (95 % security) nobody else but
Niccolo da Correggio (born 1450, Hanegrafffs gives "?1451")
an adventurous poet from the d'Este court, who in 1487 arranged the second Italian piece of theatre, to a comedia of Plautus, "Cephalo", relating to the mythological story of Kephalos (Kephalos meand "head"), who is involved in a serious one-man-two-woman triangle, one woman is his wife Proknis and the other the goddess Aurora (Eos).
Niccolo is son of Beatrice d'Este, daughter of Niccolo d'Este III, who as a 14-years-old girl was part of the young-girls-trio Bianca-Maria-Visconti, Isotta d'Este and just Beatrice caused the riddlesome entry in Ferrarese account books about "14 figure", produced by the later Trionfi painter Sagramoro, which likely are one of the first signs of the Tarot cards.
http://trionfi.com/0/e2/00b/
Niccolo (his father died before his birth) is also a step-son of Tristano Sforza, illegitime son of Francesco Sforza ... by this Niccolo became related to both Trionfi producing courts, that is Milan and Ferrara (however he connected himself more to Ferrara than to Milan - which was no problem, as the (Sforzas really had enough children).
As this is in the relevant time, when the Trionfi developed, the only person with such qualities, he was of interest to us anyway, cause he knew both worlds. He had close relation to Titiano Strozzi and of course also to Boiardo (one should assume).
Next Mail: An Answer
### Yes, and there are in the text only two books. So what has
happened? I guess, Lazzarelli was disturbed .. inner or outer forces
changed the original concept. In my opinion the first concept knew
two bookes in the style of the Boiardo poem:
1 main pair = Poetry and Music
10 other pairs = Spheres and Muses-Group
A recognizeable reason to be disturbed was, that he simply hadn't
enough stuff for the Muses. His inspiration didn't find a way to
close this gap. So he announced a third book, but probably not with
artes liberales, but with additional gods ... then he started to
fulfill this second plan, but was stopped in his activities.
In the text the "hero" of Lazzarelli is Federico Montefeltro. But the
cover originally was dedicated to Borso. Borso died 1471. Lazzarelli
had to change course, probably the poem wasn't finished. As far I
remember our earlier research somewhere Federico is addressed as
duke, but he became duke in 1474, so the actually finishing date
seems to be much later.
Perhaps the whole object rested years. We've other examples of poetry
and we know, that such things could take years. Pulci started 1460
his Orlando and was published 1478. Petrarca had 18 years or so for
his Trionfi and they stayed unfinished. They didn't write in prose.
In such long times a lot of things change.
Kaplan wrote in a way about the manuscript, that anybody would think,
that 1471 is a "fixed date" and "sure". But this seems nonsense.
Definitely Federico is addressed in the text, not Borso. The
dedication to Borso was only identified on the cover, and somebody
had tried to repair the cover, but didn't work so well, that Borso's
dedication was not readable.
Why didn't they take a new cover? Book covers were expensive and
poets are poor, so trivial is life. And Federico had a lot of persons
engaged to get a huge library. Lazzarelli was only one of them.
> Moreover, it goes remembered that the Pasquale Rotondi proposal, in
> its monography on the Ducale Palace of Urbino published in 1950,
> supported that such illustrations had been the figurative sources
for
> the paintings of the Muse nel Tempietto of such palace. An ulterior
> and last important aspect, that still remains to question, is that
of
> the relationships between images and text, above all in relation to
> the figure of the author, Ludovico Lazzarelli (San Severino Marche,
> 1450-1500), philosopher-poet with a particular interest for the
> hermetic culture."
> -Lucia Calzona
>
http://www.italica.rai.it/rinascimento/parole_chiave/schede/lazzare.ht
> m
>
> DU SYSTÈME DU SAVOIR À L'ORDRE DES MYTHES Les dieux antiques dans
les
> spectacles italiens du XVe siècle Correzione Dondi. Precisa rif. A
> stampa Lazzarelli in Epistola Enoch
>
> "In the text of Lazzarelli emerges the association of imaginary
> cosmography and mythology which inspires the decoration of the
rooms
> of the palaces of the courses and the public seats despouvoirs, in
> the cycles of profane monumental painting."
>
> "The writings of Ludovico Lazzarelli, the singer of the tournament
of
> Padua,
### yes, I remember, I've read that too, he also made music, that's
an important detail.
are among the links which transmit the names of the gods of
> the circles of the humanists to the appearances in the streets, in
> the visual medium of the Renaissance town. According to his
> biography, "he found in a shop of bookseller, in Venice, a
collection
> of very beautiful figures of the Divinities of Nice with several
> images representing the Liberal arts. On these images he composed
his
> work intitled De deorum gentilium imaginibus, which he sent to
> Frederic, duke of Urbino "26.
>
http://www.univaq.it/culturateatrale/materiali/Guarino/tours2002/Guari
> noTours2002.pdf
Link doesn't work. But I know this story. As far I remember, on the
base of this found "artes liberales" it was concluded, that
Lazzarelli had something with artes liberales in mind. But this is
not sure ...
But the story, that he detected the pictures in a Venetian bookstore
looks plausible. The time is probably 1470/71 ... and that's a
crucial point of change in book culture, especially in Venice.
Printing exploded. The whole genre of book production changed. Old
rules of writing a book vanished. New possibiities, engraving art got
its market.
In very few years a lot of things changed, a revolution. The writer
didn't need a book-painter at his side. Lazzarelli just found some
engravings and got a new idea, "how to compose a book", that was part
of this revolutionary new way. This was not possible before.
The price for book-production went down, and a little later also
that, what a writer could win by writing also.
Probably most person reading this passage about "found some
engravings", would have the idea, that Lazzarelli found the Mantegna-
deck. But I guess, they go wrong with this idea.
The Mantegna simply didn't exist. The whole story of the Lazzarelli
manuscript wouldn't make sense, when the Mantegna already existed. It
would have been not logical, when Lazzarelli had copied the Mantegna
and transformed parts of it in his book. Very likely he would have
taken other engravings.
Somebody suggesting, that Lazzarelli didn't know the Mantegna? There
were not so much persons dancing around the courts in the rank of
poets, probably Lazzarelli would have noted it.
But ... if anybody knows of any real argument, why the Mantegna
should or must have been produced before 1470 ... or better ...
before 1474, please tell me the argument.
I'm ready to learn and to listen. I know of two arguments, both from
Hind. He declares somewhere, that there is a source, which contains 2
1/2 cards (or better motifs) around 1465 and another containing
5 figures ... and that's all. Unluckily I haven't seen the
sources completely, but I guess, this are pictures without numbers.
My simple counter argument: 7 1/2 existing motifs do not prove the
existence of 50 ... that's a simple logical error.
The story of Lazzarelli tells, that he found some engravings in a
Venetian store ... okay, it sounds natural, that some of
these "found" engravings were already used at other occasions (and
this condition already fits the problem of Hind), but this does not
mean, that the Mantegna existed or that all 50 motifs were available.
The situation was so, that it demanded just a creative mind to sort
these existing engraving´s in a way, that they developed a nice
complete "whole". And that was, what Lazzarelli made, cause he was
a "creative" head. He made his 22 concept and stranded then with a
27, as far his manuscript was concerned.
But who made then the Mantegna? .... nobody knows, but the first
address for research is .. of course ... Lazzarelli, cause he has
already proven, that he knew this pictures. And probably he loved
them. And his nasty experience with his book perhaps left something,
that he had to complete his work ... finding a real concept.
Alright, but I've to wait for all the voices which wish to defend
the "Mantegna was made 1470" - theory.
It's your turn.
Next Mail: Another Answer
I don't know, what John suggested. I said, that Lazzarelli would be
the first address, which should be researched as the originator of
the Mantegna, if it is summarizing to the point, that earlier
assumptions don't have enough evidence to force a statement like "the
Mantegna was produced around 1470".
The case is like in the Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo-Tarocchi: Some people
saw some motifs and filled the missing places, with the exspectation,
that that, what they not saw, was there in the background. They saw 7
1/2 motifs from the 60ies and the somehow datable Lazzarelli-text and
concluded, that the Mantegna "must have existed", complete, with
numbers, with 50 cards, as ideas.
But studying the Lazzarelli-text itself indicates, that the Mantegna
doesn't exist. An easy study of the Lazzarelli-text was not possible
till O'Neals translation, so contradictions stayed unobserved.
Perhaps that's the story of an error, but it should be investigated.
If there is no more "hard fact" than above described, than Lazzarelli
would be the first and natural address.
But naturally ... I simply ask only for the hard facts of the 1470
estimation. Neither Hind's 7 1/2 paintings nor the Lazzarelli text
itself seem to present real evidence. Is there anything else?
Next Mail: A surprizing detection, found a new link
This link gives very good informations of the detailed sort, just
displaying titles and other things, just in the original state.
One point is very interesting: 11 poets in 13 poems praise Ludovico
Lazzarelli and this must go back to action's in the 1480's in Rome,
and should be related to an accedemia with the name "Accademia
Pomponiana in Rome".
One of the praising poets is dead in 1484, so Lazzarelli must have
been in Rome before that date. As Federico Montefeltro, which perhaps
was Lazzarelli's sponsor longer time, was dead in 1482, it seems
logical to assume, that Lazzarelli in search for a new sponsor went
then to Rome and impressed the public (perhaps this happened earlier,
but there is so much darkness around Lazzarelli, so it's a working
hypothesis.
Lazzarelli lets his "Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio" do his
unbelievable action (which seems to have all signs, that it should
have been meant metaphorical) either Eastern 1484 or 1485 (this is
unclear).
We have in the greater world a Pope Sixtus, dying 1484, with a tomb
with similarities to the Mantegna Tarocchi ... if we assume, that
this Pope sponsored Lazzarelli, then there is a logical connection
between Lazzarelli presenting the 50 ;Mantegna pictures in Rome and
this tomb of Pope Sixtus.
As far I can see it ... these poets praise Ludovico Lazzarelli,
not "Giovanni Mercurio da Corregggio".
In his later life Ludovico Lazarelli speaks in his crater hermetis
of "calling souls in the world" .... well, assuming, that he had
invented a somehow never really born "Giovanni Mercurio da Correggio"
as a sort of pseudonym and perhaps already 1492 realised, that
persons existed then, who believed, that this Giovanni Mercurio was
real, then the real Lazzarelli had experience, what this means ...
Already in the 70ies - in the Tarot relevant text here discussed -
Lazzarelli invents Gods which appear and discuss with him. Lazzarelli
had experience to "invent souls". Well, it's just a game of poetical
imagination, not more ... but if one becomes intensive with that,
such things can become quite real.
If this - assumed by me - relation between Niccolo da Correggio and
Lazzarelli really existed .... just parallel to Lazzarelli's
successes in Rome Niccolo Correggio started with theater-experiments
in Ferrara ... and theater, as cinema and TV live from the effect
to "invocate" unreal situations, as if they are real. As theater was
a very new feature in the 1480 this new form of art _expression found
innocent souls ...
The real address to study the context should be this Accademia
Pomponiana.
Here's the link and the relevant text:
http://webtext.library.yale.edu/beinflat/pre1600.MS391.htm
7. ff. 243r-246r[Thirteen poems by others in honor of Lazarelli:]
Fabritius Varaneus. Nunc celebrare facit consumpti nomen homeri/
Ilias
aeneis uirgiliumque refert/...Altius extollent tanto te laude minores/
Materia quanto clarius extat opus. [8 verses]; Platyna. Nunc liquido
apparet sententia uera platonis/ Alternas rerum iam remeare
uices...Hunc mage
commendat sed Christi uerior aetas/ Et scriptum uere religionis opus.
[12
verses]; Sulpitius Verulanus, O cui caelesti conflagrat pectus amore/
Et qui cum signis annua festa canis/...Mistica non uulgo sic tu
sanctissime
uates/ Vnica Piceni fama perennis agri. [6 verses]; Idem. Loris
aetherei tonantis actus/ Missis prodigijs iocisque uatum/...Hoc uerum
est
sapere haud labore uano/ Tot nugas aperire fabularum. [8 verses];
Paulus
Marsus. Sic uicina mihi quamuis Nasonis alumni/ Natalis tellus dux
sit et ille mihi/...Si caneretis idem veterumque abscederet error/
Equatum parili lance sederet onus. [16 verses]; Astreus. Quid
proceres
populis tribuit quibus ampla regendis/ Sceptra deus largas quiue
tenetis opes/...At tibi si desint nunc dona solubilis evi/ Praemia
perpetui te lodouice manent. [16 verses]; Ex C. Laurentij Eustothij
silua
qua plurimi recentiores poetae laudantur recitata romae in Symposio
domini Francisci Diedi oratoris ueneti ad Sixtum iiii^^m Pontificem
Maximum. Sed mens expectat uates seque inserit ultro/ Lazarellus
inops
fastos namque ipse per omnes/...Ad tua iam Brenti proauus cui
caerula uentit/ Equor in adriacum turbatis flumina lymphis. [38
verses];
Lippus. Hec uates nostri modo suscipe pignus amoris/ Carmina si
nostrum
pignore pectus eget/...Duremus tamen his etiam finem afferet aetas/
Saepe
redit pulsa nube serena dies. [28 verses]; Sinthius. Maxima iuliacis
creuere uolumina sacris/ Multaque telchinum mystica sacra
notant/...Auguror
a Sixto dabitur tibi mitra bicuspis/ Et tua nec fugiet plectra
secundus honor.
20 verses]; Pamphilus. Temporis o nostri uates clarissime carmen/ Hoc
nostrum expleto perlege iudicio/...Hinc tibi fama decus nummi noua
gloria
surget / Sic tu defunctus nomine uiuus eris. [10 verses]; Macharius
Camers
eques et Poeta. Clara nouis caelo properat septempeda fastis/ Aurea
dum
festos iungit ad astra dies/ Irrita cum causis valeant tua tempora
sulmo/ Editur
aeternae relligionis [sic]
opus. [4 verses, complete here]; Fabritius Varaneus Presul camerin
[us?]. Qui ueteres adamas tamen relegisque poetas/ Vatibus ingenium
credis
abesse nouis/...Vincere materia non inficiabere nostrum/ Et rerum et
serie
carminis ire pares. [14 verses]; Io. Georgius Cassianus. Quondam
iuliaco
suffusi flamine uates/ Non nisi quod sacrum est explicuere pii/...
Sic natale solum ciue hoc Septempeda gaude/ Huius et exemplo quisque
poeta mere [20 verses]. f.246v blank
Eleven poets are represented; most of those identified in
Cosenza are
associated with the Accademia Pomponiana in Rome in the 1480's; they
are:
Fabrizio Varano, bishop of Camerino, fl. 1503-13; Bartolomeo Scacchi
Platina,
historian of the papacy, 1421-81; Giovanni Sulpizio da Veroli (in
Campania),
grammarian, fl. s. xv^^ex; Paolo Marsi, poet, 1440-84; P. Astreus da
Perugia,
fl. s. xv^^ex; "Laurentius Eustothius's" poem recited in Rome before
Sixtus
IV (1471-84); Lorenzo de' Lippi from Colle, near Florence, fl. s.
xv^^ex; Pietro
Leoni Cinzio from Ceneda in the province of Treviso, fl. s. xv;
a "Pamphilus"
wrote an epitaph on Aesop published in Rome 1475. All but the 38
verses
by Laurentius Eustothius were published from this manuscript by
G. F. Lancellotti, L. Lazzarelli poetae laureati Bombyx... (St. Jesi,
1765).
Next Mail: Another link
http://www.europadellecorti.it/bc/bc22.htm
"Sisto IV (1471-1484)
Il possesso:
Le feste per Eleonora d'Aragona
Le cene e gli spettacoli
Lo spettacolo del mago ermetico
L'accademia pomponiana"
Next Mail: Success, "Mercurio" seems to be identified
The dragon seems to be killed:
The mysterious Giovanni "Mercurio" da Corregio, which did so
phantastic things in Rome, as described by Lazzarelli, should be, as
already earlier "only suggested", really be simply the well known
Niccolo da Correggio.
From the life of Niccolo da Corregio, son of Beatrice d'Este
(girlfriend of Bianca-Maria Visconti) and step-son of Tristano Sforza:
1469 in Ferrara at the visit of the Emperor. Defintely he
knows Lazzarelli, who also is in Ferrara at this occasion, and who is
at this the youthful superstar, the declared poetus laureatus.
1471: Mentioned to have accompanied duke Borso to Rome.
from here till April 1485 he is not mentioned to have been in Rome
1482: Involved in the Ferrara-Venetia war.
Nov. 1482: Captured by the Venetians. In prison, about 10 monthes.
Sept. 1483: Liberated in exchange for 4 Venetians. Is reported to be
in Ferrara after that with duke Ercole d'Este.
No source between Sept. 83 - jan. 1485. The war ends.
Febr. 1485: Accompanies Ercole d'Este to Venetia. Participates at an
tournament organised by or for Roberto da San Severino (condottieri).
March 1485: As pilgrim in Loreto
Apr. 1485: Visits Perugia and Roma together with the signore of
Bologna, Giovanni di Bentivoglio
######## That's precisely the date, which Lazzarelli gives. Eastern 1985. ########
June 1485: In Piemont with Duke Ercole.
April 1486: in Rome again in militaric mission
Jan. 1487: Theater activities in Ferrara, "Cephalos", commedia
April 1487: in Rome again
-----
An alternative would be, that Niccolo was accompanied by another
person (a relative) also with the name Correggio, but this seems very
unlikely.
Lothar End
###############################################
Huck now
to sum it up:
in the article of Hanegraaff "Sympathy to the devil" some informations are given to the not very well known Ludovico Lazzaralli:
"Little is known about the author [29]. Lazzarelli (1450-1500) was one of the many minor Italian humanists of the period, part of whose works are still accessible only in manuscript. He seems to have studied mathematics and astrology, and Greek as well as Hebrew. We are told that Lazzarelli exorcized impure spirits by the sign of the cross, predicted the future, and at one time fell under the suspicion of magical practice (Kristeller 1938, 226). Especially interesting is his connection with the strange figure of Giovanni "Mercurio" da Correggio (?1451-?), a wandering prophet who made a spectacular appearance in Rome on palm sunday 1485. The episode has been described in detail in an anonymous Epistola Enoch, attributed to Lazzarelli [30]. Correggio rode to the Vatican on a black horse, then left the city, to return riding a donkey, clothed in a blood-stained linen robe, and carrying a crown of thorns on his head. Correggio presented himself to the people as Jesus of Nazareth's chosen servant and son, and referred to himself as Pimander. This, as well as his added name Mercurio, demonstrate his self-identification as the hermetic Christ [31]. Lazzarelli appears to have seen in Giovanni da Correggio his spiritual master, who had effected his "spiritual regeneration" [32]. It is in this context that the Crater Hermetis must be understood."
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/printable/SympdevilFastprintable.html
The mentioned Mercurio alias Giovanni da Correggio is (95 % security) nobody else but
Niccolo da Correggio (born 1450, Hanegrafffs gives "?1451")
an adventurous poet from the d'Este court, who in 1487 arranged the second Italian piece of theatre, to a comedia of Plautus, "Cephalo", relating to the mythological story of Kephalos (Kephalos meand "head"), who is involved in a serious one-man-two-woman triangle, one woman is his wife Proknis and the other the goddess Aurora (Eos).
Niccolo is son of Beatrice d'Este, daughter of Niccolo d'Este III, who as a 14-years-old girl was part of the young-girls-trio Bianca-Maria-Visconti, Isotta d'Este and just Beatrice caused the riddlesome entry in Ferrarese account books about "14 figure", produced by the later Trionfi painter Sagramoro, which likely are one of the first signs of the Tarot cards.
http://trionfi.com/0/e2/00b/
Niccolo (his father died before his birth) is also a step-son of Tristano Sforza, illegitime son of Francesco Sforza ... by this Niccolo became related to both Trionfi producing courts, that is Milan and Ferrara (however he connected himself more to Ferrara than to Milan - which was no problem, as the (Sforzas really had enough children).
As this is in the relevant time, when the Trionfi developed, the only person with such qualities, he was of interest to us anyway, cause he knew both worlds. He had close relation to Titiano Strozzi and of course also to Boiardo (one should assume).
