Quote:
Originally Posted by Abrac
Excellent news. 
In the interview, he says he believes the deck was created for Menudo Sanuto, "the great diarist." |
Marino Sanuto as possible recipient of the (painted) deck has been proposed for quite some time -- by Gnaccolini I believe initially, who proposes that the letters "M.S." on the Aces of Batons and Swords, in light of the family Venier heraldry that appears on the painted deck (on the Aces of Swords and Batons and trumps I, IIII, XIIII, and XV), may be the initialls of Marino Sanudo / Sanuto (whose mother was a Venier) - another possibility mentioned is his cousin, Marco Sanudo
All we can say with some degree of certainty is that a member of the Venier family had a copy of the deck coloured for them, with their stemma added -- possibly in 1491 (the venetian dating information appears in the painted deck, it is not on the original engravings)
We cannot draw from this for sure that a member of the Venier commissioned the deck -- shields were possibly left blank, as they are on the B/W engravings, for the specific purpose of enabling them to be coloured with the devices and stemma of purchasers
Excellent news about a paperback edition
