Visconti Study Group - The Fool

FOOL Study

Deck used: Visconti Sforza (terrecotta coloured backs) Lge sized card.

Although I am finding it hard to tell between symbolic significance and the cards deterioration ...These are the things regarding the Fool card which brough questions to my mind ... (I don't have a LWB for this deck )

The feathers - there are 7 of them - I wonder if this number is significant?
The type of feathers - what bird they come from?
The eyes of the Fool seem crossed - is this intentional?
Does he have a bleeding nose and mouth?
Does a tear fall on the check from his left eye?
His baton/stave/stick is translucent at the top ...
Is he clutching something in his Left hand?
Do the white scratches on his overcoat mean for them to be threadbear?
He has four toes on his left foot?

Did he represent a certain 'class' during this time in Italy? If so, what would they're general status have been - what types of jobs would they have done?
Does the Fool represent an actual person of the times?

This Fool is very unadorned and static. Compared to later cards where there seems to be movement - this Fool seems stationary. No dog, blank facial expression, no cap, he seems to carry his wealth in a pouch at his waist under his coat(?) he is not outdoors, he seems to stare aside the reader lost, and in contemplation - is he figuring out something. He seems out of place somehow, maybe bewildered slightly - Possibly this is the idea of choices made.
I have often seen this card.... as an unclear question (in a reading) ... and 'What is life, Have I made the right choices, Why am I here' 'I am here'?
He seems mute to me - like a placed manequin ...vulnerable, even though he has a stave in hand.

More thoughts as I ponder.
Im not very good with history, but I will try to be a 'student'.

Blessings Elven x

Great questions, Elven!

I was wondering what is under his chin...it looks like black spots. I am using the Visconti Tarot so the picture is a bit clearer. I thought maybe it was the ties used to hold the feathers on his head, but I cannot be sure.

He does seem ill-prepared for his journey which is quite a contrast to the typical Fool depicted. Are his pants down around his knees??

I have been doing some research on this deck and came across some information on an artist named Giotto. He did frescos and carvings in a chapel - crap! I can't remember where it is! - anyway, he did some allegories in the chapel referred to as the 40 Virtues and Vices. One of the vices is called Stupidity or Foolishness and it has alot in common with the Fool on this card.

The site is here: http://www.christusrex.org/www1/giotto/virtues.html

The "Fool" is the last image on the page.

So this would see to put a different light on the Fool - not happy go lucky, on the way to a grand adventure - but it seems like this might be the Fool after a day or two when he has been robbed or is realizing that this trip isn't what he imagined. This kind of makes me think of the Majors in this deck filling the purpose of allegories rather than a Fools Journey. Is this intended or is this just an homage to a great artist and contemporary?

Wow is this deck interesting!

Thanks valeria for the information and the link - it certainly raised my interests ...

The first startling (well to me anyway) thing I saw comparing the two - was related to the feathers ... and the contrast between the two individuals ... the Fool I see on the Visconti Sforza looked like a person that 'someone making a mockery of' ... an 'Angel which had Fallen' - they have taken the feathers from his wings and the feathers (could be leaves) from his halo, and stuck them in his hair ... Was he once an Angel? Is he mocking Angels, do they represent his connection to the Divine and God in his stae of being - or messages ... or is it he cannot afford a cap?

Relating to your point about his pants I thought they were his worn out stockings? but im not sure about that either.

and as for the whats under his chin which look like testi ... giblets ... Im not sure exactly what they are supposed to represent - part of the beard, strokes to accentuate the neck ... they seem to have been added with the facial hair as the paint colour and brush stroke width are similar, but against the neck coloring they are quite 'present'. The same goes for the beard itself - why not just a beard - why a parted beard?

Back soon - will have a think - and come back to add to your other thoughts as well.

http://quatramaran.ens.fr/~madore/visconti-tarots/large/arcanum-fool.jpg

I love the visconti fool, and he certainly puts a different twist on things than you get with later decks.

To me, this card is about foolishness... the bad, embarassing, and perhaps even out of your mind crazy kind.

In Giotto's paintings (of the seven vices and seven virtues), he is the vice of Foolishness contrasted with the virtue of Prudence. Prudence is about having forsight, planning, making good decisions, and basically wisdom gained by leading a virtuous life. He's the contrast to these things, the warning of what will come if you aren't prudent.
http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/images/6/64/Stultitia_fool.jpg

At the least it's about making bad choices, or worse those horrible situations where you are caught doing something really stupid, and possibly even all the way over to mental illness.

There is also the Outsider aspect of this card. This is a wandering fool who would be mocked and laughed at.

You might find this thread intersting:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=68800

I'm not at all sure that this "fool's journey" would be something I would want to go on!!!

The other thing I've noticed is that every other figure in the deck is either fully clothed or appropriately naked, whereas the fool appears to be struggling to keep his undergarments on, reinforcing that idea of foolishness, dishevelment. It's definitely the look of someone who has lost their way, rather than a carefree skip thru the park on a sunny day..