Re: VMs: Has anyone ever noticed this?

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Nick Pelling wrote:

> The Sagittarius crossbowman has been referred to several times on-list as
> perhaps having been copied from a German calender, for example: and it
> would make sense if the Virgo picture was similarly copied from another
> (possibly more close at hand) source, like a tarocchi card.

But why? It does not make sense to me. Zodiac images where
present everywhere at that time, so why use a German woodblock
book for one, and a tarot card for another? And both quite
non-standard? Virgo typically holds a corn shaft and Sagittarius
is a Centaur with a normal bow.

> However, I think it's important to point out that the tarocchi decks were
> handmade and hand-painted, and are relatively rare: so were probably
> neither common nor cheap at the time - remember that the Visconti-Sforza's
> were the Milanese equivalent of the Kennedy family. :-o

The ones which came down to us - but we may assume that there
were also cheap versions which have not survived. There are
many examples of individual early playing cards from otherwise
unknown decks or uncut sheets which survived only because
they were used for book binding.

> It would be interesting to compare the rest of the VMS with other still
> extant tarocchi cards - are there any tarot historians on-list?

Actually, I wrote a book on it some 15 years ago and also contributed
to Stuart Kaplan's _Encyclopedia of tarot_ - but have not followed
new research since then.

But I don't think any genuine connection with the tarot cards
can be found - the symbols used there were pretty much standard
emblems of the time (with some exceptions). So you will find
castles on some Visconti-Sforza "World" cards which are
vaguely similar to those in the VMS - but the similarity
is not striking at all. Otherwise, I don't see any relevant
point of possible connection.

> Also: looking again at the Virgo volvelle, there is a single notable nymph
> in (what Edith Sherwood identifies as) a birthing tub, but without
> geometric decoration and with a more functional-looking shape than the
> others. What star was associated with the 8th degree of Virgo? [inner
> circle of nymphs, 8th nymph counting clockwise from 9 o'clock]

In one of the MSS examined by prof. Sniezynska-Stolot
the 8 Virgo image is a man clothed in a fishing net, right
hand on hip, left on breast. The other MSS image is a man
under a fir-tree with both hands forward. There are no 
single star correspondences but to constellations: Bootes,
Gemini, Lyra and Pastor (in different MSS).

Best regards,

Rafal
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