Courts as characterisation?

[Major Tom]

And of course characterisation can be done to either ridicule or to flatter.

Aren't the Visconti courts portraits of actual people? Most likely painted to flatter.

With the Marseilles and Vieville, the courts do seem to be characterisations but would we be able to identify who is being characterised? Perhaps types of people are being characterised? And these charactersations seem to ridicule...

[jmd]

Why ridicule, Major Tom?

Perhaps the characterisation that can be seem exemplifies attributes that may perhaps be seen as more caricatures, but these can assist also in focussing on certain characteristics - which as full human beings we each of necessity also transcend.

[Major Tom]

Originally Posted by jmd

Why ridicule, Major Tom?

I might have better said 'make fun of'...

As you say caricatures and these seem to exagerate certain qualities. I'm seeing them the way one might see a political cartoon.

[Rosanne]

Hit the nail on the head Tom!
For the Game 'Poking Borax' most likely at the Church and local leadership. Sort of like how we say "We're working for the Man" sometimes with Pride (For God) and sometimes with derision (The Boss)
For other intellectual pursuits and immortalising ones family not cartoon-ish at all.
Thats why I think there was early model that we no longer have or have walked by without realising it. Some model that could be used both ways.
~Rosanne

[Major Tom]

Thanks for this Rosanne. Yes, that's what I'm getting at. Some poking fun and some immortalising.

Which raises some questions: Do we know who's being immortalised? Do we know who's being made fun of? Are there any real people we can identify in the courts of the Marseille?

Originally Posted by Rosanne

Thats why I think there was early model that we no longer have or have walked by without realising it. Some model that could be used both ways.

As to an early model that could be used both ways, that would be a hell of an achievement and I would think could only have happened with hand painted cards - maybe engraved metal plates. Woodblocks and stencils are just too crude to produce such subtle nuances. It would be quite an achievement for a modern artist let alone an card manufacturer from 500 years ago.

Naturally, I like to think I came close.