Rosanne
This was said in one of the many threads about card one Le Bateleur
A few weeks ago I was putting together an album of all the postcards and bits and pieces I had collected in Italy. One postcard was purchased in Venice at the Correr Museum. In the corner was the tiniest picture of what I thought was a TdM Bateleur. Because it was too small to scan successfully- I went searching for it and found that it was in a very expensive folio about Tobacco.(Jerome Brooks- Tobacco:It's History-Illustrated by the Books and Manuscripts in the Library Of George Arents.) That really surprised me.
Below I will show a picture by a Venetian artist(Jan Grevembroch c.1600) who chronicled daily life.
The only two things that are different are that the table does not have a roof, and there is not a three leafed tobacco plant growing between his feet.
So it would seem to me that the model for the Bateleur of TdM fame is a tobacco merchant. If this is so, it opens up for me at least, a whole new dimension for readers.
On page 145 Vol 1 Kaplan Tarot Encyclopedia of Tarot is the Vandenborre Belgium Tarot. Le Bateleux holds in his hand what appears to be a musket or early form of cigar- not a wand. These Merchants that sold tobacco- sold all sorts of remedies- tobacco was supposed to cure a multitude of ills, including syphilis. It also supposedly bought on hallucinations.
If this is what the TdM type Bateleur was- then at the very least it dates the origin of these cards- they could not have been created before the Visconti, nor before the mid 16th century.
It explains the peculiar three leafed plant common to many TdM style cards- and many of the odd items on the table- like the purse and jars for leaf and snuff. The Jars not for hide the pea games- but containers for tobacco. The Hadar reconstruction has a purse or sack with what could well be tobacco leaves.
I mentioned the Vandenborre Tarot, because of its clarity and the fact it has a pipe on the table as well.
So as I wrote elsewhere...
Well it was thought that tobacco smoke prevented or protected against the plague.
Some Taverns were called tabgies in England and tabacchis in Italy because it was thought you magically 'drank the smoke' and became intoxicated- and therefore in English it was known as Sotweed.
The Church led the opposition to tobacco as it was a distraction from Holy objectives and a source of earthly delight, that it challenged Church teachings of forgoing earthly pleasure for rewards in the next life. It became an instrument of Heresy and a threat to Church power; and like gambling a loss of revenue. In the 16th century it was a Mortal sin to use tobacco. It was linked to the Devil- there are stories that grew about the Devil defecating and out sprouted tobacco.
This Pagan smoke (most likely because of the godless place it came from) had devilish magical properties- it was rumoured to induce trances and give spiritual enlightenment- so it was Pagan Holy and Christian Sinful.
Anyone interested in discussing this?
~Rosanne
A few weeks ago I was putting together an album of all the postcards and bits and pieces I had collected in Italy. One postcard was purchased in Venice at the Correr Museum. In the corner was the tiniest picture of what I thought was a TdM Bateleur. Because it was too small to scan successfully- I went searching for it and found that it was in a very expensive folio about Tobacco.(Jerome Brooks- Tobacco:It's History-Illustrated by the Books and Manuscripts in the Library Of George Arents.) That really surprised me.
Below I will show a picture by a Venetian artist(Jan Grevembroch c.1600) who chronicled daily life.
The only two things that are different are that the table does not have a roof, and there is not a three leafed tobacco plant growing between his feet.
So it would seem to me that the model for the Bateleur of TdM fame is a tobacco merchant. If this is so, it opens up for me at least, a whole new dimension for readers.
On page 145 Vol 1 Kaplan Tarot Encyclopedia of Tarot is the Vandenborre Belgium Tarot. Le Bateleux holds in his hand what appears to be a musket or early form of cigar- not a wand. These Merchants that sold tobacco- sold all sorts of remedies- tobacco was supposed to cure a multitude of ills, including syphilis. It also supposedly bought on hallucinations.
If this is what the TdM type Bateleur was- then at the very least it dates the origin of these cards- they could not have been created before the Visconti, nor before the mid 16th century.
It explains the peculiar three leafed plant common to many TdM style cards- and many of the odd items on the table- like the purse and jars for leaf and snuff. The Jars not for hide the pea games- but containers for tobacco. The Hadar reconstruction has a purse or sack with what could well be tobacco leaves.
I mentioned the Vandenborre Tarot, because of its clarity and the fact it has a pipe on the table as well.
So as I wrote elsewhere...
Well it was thought that tobacco smoke prevented or protected against the plague.
Some Taverns were called tabgies in England and tabacchis in Italy because it was thought you magically 'drank the smoke' and became intoxicated- and therefore in English it was known as Sotweed.
The Church led the opposition to tobacco as it was a distraction from Holy objectives and a source of earthly delight, that it challenged Church teachings of forgoing earthly pleasure for rewards in the next life. It became an instrument of Heresy and a threat to Church power; and like gambling a loss of revenue. In the 16th century it was a Mortal sin to use tobacco. It was linked to the Devil- there are stories that grew about the Devil defecating and out sprouted tobacco.
This Pagan smoke (most likely because of the godless place it came from) had devilish magical properties- it was rumoured to induce trances and give spiritual enlightenment- so it was Pagan Holy and Christian Sinful.
Anyone interested in discussing this?
~Rosanne
