ravenest
I am sure there are many for the Emperor , Hierophant ( Pope or Popess ) but aside from the old story of ' Pope Joan' is there any historical personage or office the card may be based on ?
I am sure there are many for the Emperor , Hierophant ( Pope or Popess ) but aside from the old story of ' Pope Joan' is there any historical personage or office the card may be based on ?
The office of being the Emperor's wife was Empress. Barbara von Cilli (died 1451), wife of Emperor Sigismund (died 1437), has sometimes been interpreted as the "model" for the Visconti and Sforza cards, and was the Empress, or at least "former" Empress, when Tarot was invented.
See this thread too -
http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=1698807&postcount=1
I am sure there are many for the Emperor , Hierophant ( Pope or Popess ) but aside from the old story of ' Pope Joan' is there any historical personage or office the card may be based on ?
There is not one single person that can be portrayed as the Empress. Every cardmaker is free to portray who he wants. Of the handpainted cards only the Empress of the Visconti di Modrone and the Visconti Sforza survive. On both decks the same lady is portrayed as the Empress. I believe it is Bianca Maria Visconti or maybe her mother Agnese del Maino who is portrayed on this card. The other cards are easier. On the Visconti di Modrone and the Brere Brambilla we see the Emperor Sigismundo portrayed as the Emperor. On the Visconti Sforza the Emperor is probably not a historical person. In showing an old man the cardmaker wants to show that the Emperor has no power over Francesco Sforza. The Pope on this deck is the antipope Felix V, who died in 1449.
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