Rosanne
There has been lots of chat about the Hanged Man of late.
I found out from Kwaw that The Sforza family all had shame paintings done in the 15th century- of their enemies or debtors.
If the Hanged Man is a person and not a concept in this deck- who could it be? I am not disputing the idea that the Hanged Man was not already in some so far undiscovered Tarot like game- but that the Visconti Deck used figures known to The Sforza for the sequence.
The person Hanged is fair haired, aristocratic in dress, youngish, considerably shorter in stature, and somewhat resigned to his fate of either shame painted or hanged for real. The background scenery is of purple blue hills that only appear on this card, Fool and Death. This seems to indicate these figures are not local- they come from another place or different direction. Indeed if you look at all the others they are from a different locale on the grass- woods in the distance. The six further cards or replacements have totally different background scenery. The courts that are not on Plinths and look close up, the Pages/Knaves for instance have different scenery behind them- Green Hills/Forest/close foothills/trees and hills.
This may well show different directions- but so The Hanged Man has purple hills in the distance behind him.
It is thought that the cards depict this area.The Certosa di Pavia or Charterhouse of Pavia (built c. 1396-1465) is a famous monastery complex in Lombardy, Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, 8 km north of the city of Pavia. It was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain. It is also close to Bianca's dowry place of Cremona.
(Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians.)
By the time these cards were painted- landscape had moved from fantasy to a landscape of fact. This was called the International style. You could recognise areas from paintings and miniatures. For instance in the Duc de Bery's Book of Hours- the landscape and Castles are able to be named. They were no longer fantasy castles. The early painting in the Book has background of fantasy lanscape- especially if the scene was biblical- like the Nativity scenes. You can also see this movement in frescoes of the same period.
So back to the Hanged Man of the PM Visconti.
The three cards that have the same purple hills appear to be placed in the West- the hills are lower hills of Liguria that look purple from Pavia.On the Eastward side of Pavia the rolling green hills give way to the plains of Lombardy all the way to Venice. From Pavia you cannot see the Alps- but you could see the forests and streams of the Ducal Hunting grounds, both North and South.
Apparently Francesco Sforza had a shame painting done of Francesco Piccinino (1407-1449). In the Art of insulting this would have some understanding.
Piccinino was a condottiero -a contract soldier. Cremona became incorporated into the duchy of Milan in 1420. Visconti sought a husband for his illegitimate daughter Bianca Maria (1423-1468). At her engagement to Francesco Sforza (1401-1466) in 1432, she was formally given Cremona to be her dowry. Francesco fought his prospective father-in-law on many occasions, and in 1440 he conquered Cremona for himself., against his old enemy Francesco Piccinino The following year, he reached agreement with the Duke to resolve the dispute. They ratified the accord in Cavriana near Mantua and decided to conclude the marriage. The ceremony took place in the Church of San Sigismondo in Cremona the same year. All along Visconti seemed to harbour great Hatred of his son-in-Law, and at every opportunity he used his old General Piccinino's sons to fight against Sforza. The Piccininio family of soldiers declared Sforza their greatest enemy and were very bitter when their Patron Visconti gave Bianca in contract to Sforza. Francesco Piccinino was only 25 when the engagement took place- it seems that they thought him a better match.
In 1446, the fighting began again. Cremona was retaken for the Duke by Francesco Piccinino, and this started a protracted war between the duchy of Milan and the Venetian Republic. The Duke, in desperate trouble, asked the King of Naples, the ruler of Rimini, the Pope, and even his son-in-law for help. Having no legitimate male heir, the Duke promised Sforza he would inherit everything. So after Visconti died Francesco Piccinino tried to stop Sforza taking the Ducy of Milan- but he died before he succeeded in his endeavor.
Ther is no longer a depiction of the shame painting of Piccinino- but he appears in this........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uccello_Florentine_Troops.jpg
It is Francesco Piccinino seated passive on his horse next to the General Mauruzi in the flamboyant turban.
This is just a little speculation into the Hanged Man as one of Sforza'a enemies who physically fits the bill in age and was famous for his red blond tightly curled hair- his supposed treachery against Sforza and the family jealousy about his wife Bianca....and a shame painting.
~Rosanne
I found out from Kwaw that The Sforza family all had shame paintings done in the 15th century- of their enemies or debtors.
If the Hanged Man is a person and not a concept in this deck- who could it be? I am not disputing the idea that the Hanged Man was not already in some so far undiscovered Tarot like game- but that the Visconti Deck used figures known to The Sforza for the sequence.
The person Hanged is fair haired, aristocratic in dress, youngish, considerably shorter in stature, and somewhat resigned to his fate of either shame painted or hanged for real. The background scenery is of purple blue hills that only appear on this card, Fool and Death. This seems to indicate these figures are not local- they come from another place or different direction. Indeed if you look at all the others they are from a different locale on the grass- woods in the distance. The six further cards or replacements have totally different background scenery. The courts that are not on Plinths and look close up, the Pages/Knaves for instance have different scenery behind them- Green Hills/Forest/close foothills/trees and hills.
This may well show different directions- but so The Hanged Man has purple hills in the distance behind him.
It is thought that the cards depict this area.The Certosa di Pavia or Charterhouse of Pavia (built c. 1396-1465) is a famous monastery complex in Lombardy, Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, 8 km north of the city of Pavia. It was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain. It is also close to Bianca's dowry place of Cremona.
(Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians.)
By the time these cards were painted- landscape had moved from fantasy to a landscape of fact. This was called the International style. You could recognise areas from paintings and miniatures. For instance in the Duc de Bery's Book of Hours- the landscape and Castles are able to be named. They were no longer fantasy castles. The early painting in the Book has background of fantasy lanscape- especially if the scene was biblical- like the Nativity scenes. You can also see this movement in frescoes of the same period.
So back to the Hanged Man of the PM Visconti.
The three cards that have the same purple hills appear to be placed in the West- the hills are lower hills of Liguria that look purple from Pavia.On the Eastward side of Pavia the rolling green hills give way to the plains of Lombardy all the way to Venice. From Pavia you cannot see the Alps- but you could see the forests and streams of the Ducal Hunting grounds, both North and South.
Apparently Francesco Sforza had a shame painting done of Francesco Piccinino (1407-1449). In the Art of insulting this would have some understanding.
Piccinino was a condottiero -a contract soldier. Cremona became incorporated into the duchy of Milan in 1420. Visconti sought a husband for his illegitimate daughter Bianca Maria (1423-1468). At her engagement to Francesco Sforza (1401-1466) in 1432, she was formally given Cremona to be her dowry. Francesco fought his prospective father-in-law on many occasions, and in 1440 he conquered Cremona for himself., against his old enemy Francesco Piccinino The following year, he reached agreement with the Duke to resolve the dispute. They ratified the accord in Cavriana near Mantua and decided to conclude the marriage. The ceremony took place in the Church of San Sigismondo in Cremona the same year. All along Visconti seemed to harbour great Hatred of his son-in-Law, and at every opportunity he used his old General Piccinino's sons to fight against Sforza. The Piccininio family of soldiers declared Sforza their greatest enemy and were very bitter when their Patron Visconti gave Bianca in contract to Sforza. Francesco Piccinino was only 25 when the engagement took place- it seems that they thought him a better match.
In 1446, the fighting began again. Cremona was retaken for the Duke by Francesco Piccinino, and this started a protracted war between the duchy of Milan and the Venetian Republic. The Duke, in desperate trouble, asked the King of Naples, the ruler of Rimini, the Pope, and even his son-in-law for help. Having no legitimate male heir, the Duke promised Sforza he would inherit everything. So after Visconti died Francesco Piccinino tried to stop Sforza taking the Ducy of Milan- but he died before he succeeded in his endeavor.
Ther is no longer a depiction of the shame painting of Piccinino- but he appears in this........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Uccello_Florentine_Troops.jpg
It is Francesco Piccinino seated passive on his horse next to the General Mauruzi in the flamboyant turban.
This is just a little speculation into the Hanged Man as one of Sforza'a enemies who physically fits the bill in age and was famous for his red blond tightly curled hair- his supposed treachery against Sforza and the family jealousy about his wife Bianca....and a shame painting.
~Rosanne
