217 of the 228 essays on the history of Tarot and 19 of the 22 essays on the iconology of the Major Arcana written by Andrea Vitali are not available online.
All the essays will be published soon.
Andrea Vitali. First edition 1993
Translation revised by Michael S. Howard, July 2018
"If you talk about the Sky; they immediately find the Moon. They call it ornament of the night, mother of the dew, minister of the humors, ruler of the sea, measure of time, imitator of the Sun, the one who changes the Air" (Se discorri del Cielo; subito trovano la Luna, & la chiamano, decoro della notte, madre della rugiada; ministra dell’humore, dominatrice del mare, misura del tempo, emula del Sole, mutatrice dell’Aere) (1).
Andrea Della Robbia, Crucifixion (detail with Sun and Moon), glazed terracotta, 1481
Chapel of the Stigmata, La Verna Sanctuary (Arezzo-Italy)
In the Charles VI (figure 1) and Ercole I d’Este Tarots (figure 2) the Moon is depicted as a a celestial object of study on the part of astronomers. In the Visconti-Sforza Tarot (figure 3) a maiden holds the crescent moon in her hand, in accordance with a common method used for other cards, such as the Star card in the same pack, or the same card in the Victoria and Albert group. In the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, a fresco depicts Saint Christopher ferrying the child Jesus, who holds a full moon in his hand; the news of his light, as Saint Ambrose said: “Ergo annuntiavit luna misterium Christi” (Thus the moon has shown forth the mystery of Christ) (2).
In the Cary Sheet we find a completely different image: the moon dominates with its rays a landscape that is half water and half land. In the water is a crayfish or lobster, animals, along with the crab, then associated with the zodiacal sign of Cancer. On the hilly ground there are two structures positioned opposite each other (figure 4).
Cancer is the zodiacal abode of the moon, and also Latin for an animal that symbolizes Inconstancy, as described in Cesare Ripa’s treatise Iconologia (figure 5), in which Inconstancy is depicted as “Woman who tramples on a great Crab, made the same as the one painted in the Zodiac; she is dressed in deep blue, and holds the moon in her hands. The crab is an animal that walks forward and backward, with the same inclination as those who are irresolute: now they love contemplation, but now action, now war, now peace. In the same way the moon is very changeableas far as what appears to our eyes, so that they say that the fool changes as the moon, which never stays the same for even an hour" (Donna che passi co' piedi sopra un Granchio grande, fatto come quello, che si dipinge nel Zodiaco; sia vestita di color torchino, e in mano tenga la luna. Il granchio è animale, che cammina inanzi, e indietro, con eguale dispositione, come fanno quelli che essendo irresoluti, or lodono la contemplazione, hora l'attione, hora la guerra, hora la pace... La Luna, medesimamente, è mutabilissima, per quanto ne giudicano gli occhi nostri; pero si dice, che lo stolto si cangia come la luna, che non sta mai un' hora nel medesimo modo…) (3).
To the two turreted constructions represented in the card it is necessary to attribute the function of lighthouses (4). Concerning this function, it is necessary to know that the Ancients attributed to the Moon the property of always being a light for sailors. In Natale Conte’ s Mythologiae the author writes that the Moon was “venerated by the Egyptians, with the name of Isis, and assigned to storms and to sailors, as Lucian attests in his Dialogue between Zephyrus and Noto" (ab Aegyptiis Isidis nomina culta, & tempestatibus ac navigantibus praefecta, ut testatur Lucianus in Dialogo Zephyri & Noti) (5).
Cartari shows an image of the goddess (figure 6) holding a little ship in her hand, defining it as the “Image of Isis, Egyptian goddess, who is the Moon considered the goddess of sailors” In ("Imagine d'Iside dea Egittia che è la Luna tenuta la dea de naviganti”): “Then there were those ancients who set a garland of abrotano [southernwood] on the head of Isis’s likeness, as well as the same herb in her left hand. They put a little boat in the right hand, perhaps because they wanted to show that she moved on to Egypt, where (as Lactantius tells us [Divine Institutes 1. 11.47]) they celebrated a festival dedicated to the ship of Isis. For even though the fables imagine that she was changed into a cow that traveled by swimming through the sea, history has recorded that she made her way by sailing; hence the Egyptians believed that she was in charge of all navigation, and that her divine power could plot a lucky course for sailors” (Sono poi stati di quelli, li quali hanno posto in capo al simulacro di Iside una ghirlanda di Abrotano, e le hanno dato nella sinistra mano la medesima erba e nella destra una Navicella, con la quale volevano forse mostrare, che ella passò in Egitto, conciosia che quivi fosse celebrata una festa, come scrive Lattanzio, dedicata alla Nave di Iside, perché se bene le favole finsero, che ella mutata in vacca nuotando passasse il mare, nondimeno la historia ha scritto, che lo passò navigando e per questo gli Egittij la credettero essere, sopra le navigationi, e che potesse dare col Nume suo felice corso a naviganti) (6).
The relation Moon-Isis as goddess of sailors is also highlighted in a fourteenth century capital of the Ducal Palace in Venice, where the goddess travels on a boat holding in her hand a lunar crescent accompanied by Cancer exalted in its ideal domicile (figure 7).
In Apuleius’s Metamorphoses, one of the first books printed in Italy,the author describes the priests of Isis carrying her effigy and those of the other gods of her cult to the seashore, where they bless a ship built in her honor and pray for good navigation in the coming year, as well as praying for the year’s navigation:. Here is Apuleius: “The images of the gods were first set out as the ritual prescribed. There stood a ship, a triumph of craftsmanship, its sides decorated with marvellous Egyptian paintings: the high priest, after first pronouncing a solemn prayer from his chaste lips, with the utmost ceremony purified it with a flaming torch, an egg, and sulphur (7), named it, and consecrated it to the great goddess. The resplendent sail of this happy vessel displayed letters embroidered in gold repeating the prayer for the new sailing season and successful navigation” (Ibidem simulacris rite dispositis navem faberrime factam, picturis miris Aegyptiorum circumsecus variegatam, summus sacerdos taeda lucida et ovo et sulphure sollemnissimas preces de casto praefatus ore, quam purissime purificatam deae nuncupavit dedicavitque. Huius felicis alvei nitens carbasus litteras voti intextas progerebat: eae litterae votum instaurabant de novi commeatus prospera navigatione). Loaded with gifts and propitious offerings, she slides into the water and out to sea. (8).
Pignoria, writing about an ancient cameo representing the goddess, says: “In the Cameo, Isis is represented in the same way as she is in ancient medals of Hadrian and of Antoninus Pius; and for me this figure means Isis of Navigation, mentioned in the Ancient Rustic Calendar. And in the medal of Antoninua Pius, we see a Lighthouse that confirms this conjecture. See Apuleius’s Book 11" (Nel Cameo s'e rappresentata Iside come si vede nelle medaglie antiche di Hadriano e di Antonino Pio; […]. Et significa questa figura a mio giudicio il Navigio d'Iside, del quale si fa menzione nel Calendario Rustico Antico. Et nella Med.[aglia] d'Antonino si vede un Faro di Porto, che tanto piu conferma la congettura. Leggasi Appuleio nell'11) (9).
The Numismatic Cabinet of the Sforza Castle in Milan holds many different coins in conformity with Pignoria’s descriptions. They are bronze Alexandrian drachmas of the imperial age coined by Emperor Antoninus Pius (138 -161 a.d.). On these coins Isis's bust is on one side and on the other side “Isis Pharia”, the goddess sailing on a boat towards the famous lighthouse [faro, in Italian] on the island of Pharos in the harbor of Alexandria (figure 8).
The Moon was called “Triform” by the Ancients and its three aspects were put in relation to as many powers. Cartari in his work writes: “The Moon is called Hecate and Triform, because of the different shapes that her body assumes, depending on how far from or near to the Sun she is. She also has three special powers The first occurs when she starts to display her light to mortals, which brings with it an enlargement of things. And the ancients symbolized this first and new appearance with white clothing decked out with gold that they wrapped around her statue, as well as the blazing torch they placed in her hand. The second is when half her body is illuminated; they symbolized this through a basket in which they carried her sacred things. For while the Moon’s light continues to grow, fruits grow more and more mature each day until they are gathered in baskets. The third is the interior light which they symbolize through clothing that is somewhat dark in color” (E chiamata la Luna Hecate, e Triforme per le varie figure, ch'ella mostra nel corpo suo, secondo che più, o meno si trova essere discosta dal Sole: onde sono parimente tre le virtù sue. L'una è, quando comincia à mostrare il lume à mortali porgendo con quello accrescimento alle cose: e questo primo, e nuovo aspetto era da gli antichi mostrato con vesti bianche, e dorate, che mettevano intorno al suo simulacro, e con la face accesa, che il medesimo haveva in mano. L'altra è, quando ha già la metà di tutto il lume, e fu questa mostrata con la cesta, nella quale portavano le sue cose sacre: perche mentre che va crescendo il lume della Luna, ogni dì più si maturano i frutti, e quali si raccogliono poi con le ceste. La terza è nello intero lume mostrato con vesti, che hanno del fosco) (10).
These three aspects of the triform Moon are represented in the Cary Sheet: the lighthouses on both sides of the card symbolize the first appearance of the moon and the half moon, while the celestial body shining above and in the middle of the card emphasizes the full moon. And in addition there are the three phases: crescent, full and waning moon, other aspects of the triple designation of the Moon whose light, in each of its phases, is a lighthouse for those sailing on the sea. The water that is depicted on the bottom of the card is probably connected to the time when the moon does not appear, for it is hidden by the sea, in accordance with ancient belief. About this Cartari writes: "Returning to Apuleus, he thought that while sleeping the Goddess appeared to him, - rising with reverent face from the Sea - for poets pretended that the Sun, the Moon and all the other stars when setting dove into the sea and therefore that they re-emerged at their first appearance – and gradually she displayed every part of her gleaming body". (Ma ritornando ad Apuleio, ei dice, che dormendo li parve vedere questa Dea [la Luna] la quale con riverenda faccia usciva del Mare, perché finsero i Poeti, che il Sole, la Luna, e tutte l’altre stelle tramontando si andassero à tuffare nel mare, e che quindi uscissero al loro primo apparire, & à poca à poco mostrò poi tutto il lucido corpo) (11).
In reference to the new moon, quoting Saint Ambrose, Cartari underlines once more the fickleness of the celestial body, whose instability becomes a moral teaching not to be imitated by men: “Therefore this image of the moon, in addition to the natural things shown in her, could teach us something more useful to human life. Let us pay attention to what St. Ambrose says. Taking the moon as his example, whose light can reasonably be called uncertain, because, it is always changing, now waxing and now waning, he warns us that there is no stability in human things and that everything in time is undone. Some said that this was the reason ancient Romans of noble family put little moons on their feet, to be warned about the instability of human things and not to be proud even if they were well stocked with things in abundance, because riches and all the things that mortals value so are like the moon, now all bright and shining, now reducing its light, showing less and less of itself, and and finally becoming so dark that it that it can be seen no more" (Et accioche questa immagine della Luna, oltre alle cose naturali, che in essa sono mostrate, ce ne insegni qualche altra più utile alla vita umana, riguardiamo à quello, che dice il Beato Ambrogio, il quale con l'esempio di questa, il cui lume si può chiamare ragionevolmente incerto, perche mutandosi tuttavia hor cresce, & hora scema, ci ammonisce, che fra le cose humane non è fermezza alcuna, e che tutte col tempo si disfanno. E per questo dicevano alcuni, che gli antichi Romani di famiglia nobile portavano ne i piedi certe Lunette, per essere con quelle spesso ammoniti della istabilità delle cose humane, accioche non insuperbissero, anchora che fossero di molti beni copiosi, et abondanti, perché le ricchezze, e le altre cose tanto stimate da' mortali fanno apunto, come la Luna, la quale hora è tutta luminosa, e risplendente, hora assotiglia in modo il lume, che di se mostra più poco, et all'ultimo così diventa oscura, che più non vi pare essere) (12).
The presence of the dog in the vast iconography of the goddess underlines the relationship between the Moon and Diana, as Guglielmo Choul tells us in his Essay on the ancient Roman religion, dated 1559, showing us an ancient medal dedicated to Empress Julia Pia (c. 170-217) “The simulacrum or image of this Goddess was according to her dignities & qualities painted and figured by the ancients in different ways, as she was likewise called by several names. He reckoned that if the moon was full, he would show its clarity by a lighted torch in both hands, as seen in the medals of Giulia Pia, wife of Emperor Severus, with letters that say DIANA LUCIFERA [light-bearer]. And to show even better that Diana & the Moon were at that time the same thing, I had made here another bronze medal of the same Giulia, on which is written Luna Lucifera”. (Et per mostrare anchora meglio che Diana & la Luna erano in quel tempo una medesima cosa, io ho fatto qui mettere un'altra medaglia di bronzo della medesima Giulia, nella quale è scritto Luna Lucifera) (13).
About this torch Cartari says that “The lighted torch in Diane’s hand can then, as Pausanias writes once again, that it was a statue of metal in Arcadia about six feet high, to show also that she lights up the night to escort travelers, and for this reason she was called Diana Escort and leader, and likewise in her Roman temple on Palatine Hill, she was referred to as Nightlight." (Poi l'accesa face in mano di Diana […] come scrive pur’anco Pausania, che ne fu un simulacro di metallo nell’Arcadia alto forse sei piedi, […], mostrare anchora, ch'ella lucendo di notte fa la scorta à viandanti, e perciò era chiamata quivi Diana Scorta è duce, si come in Roma nel tempio, che ella hebbe su’l monte Palatino, fu detta Nottiluca) (14).
A beautiful image of the goddess with these attributes (figure 9) can be found in Natale Conte’s Mythologiae (1616 edition). The dog and other animals that accompany her, such as deer and snakes, symbolize human instincts inseparable from her essence, to dominate so as to achieve the “City of the Just”, that, to Homer, the goddess held dear (15).
The later presence of two dogs, one dark and the other white, in the Moon card, such as that of the Marseille Tarot (figure 10), has precise correspondences in the medieval context. The two dogs or other animals become the symbols of day and night, according to a widespread concept that linked these two colors to counterposed situations, as Cartari informs us.when talking about the chariot of the Moon pulled by two horses: “One of these horses was black and the other was white, Boccaccio says, because the moon does not only appear at night but it can also be seen during the day" (Di questo l’uno era negro, e l’altro bianco, come dice il Boccaccio, perché non solamente appare di notte la luna, ma si vede anche il dì) (16).
I found another example of this kind of depiction of day and night in a wonderful painting by Jacopo del Sellaio, The Triumph of Time (figure 11), now at the Bandini Museum in Fiesole: the Old Man stands on the circle of the sun, on which the hours are numbered. Under this, corresponding to the light and dark hours, are a white and a black dog, to indicate time that passes without stopping, in daytime as at night. The dog’s colors on the Moon card symbolize, in accordance with a typical Renaissance concept, that the moon’s power is always present even when it does not appear, as Catari writes: “Her power has its strength not only in Heaven, where she is called the Moon, but also on the earth, where she is called Diana, and even down in the Underworld where she is called Hecate and Proserpina, for because she is thought to descend there all that time she is hidden to us" ([…] la virtù sua ha forza non solamente in Cielo, ove la chiamano Luna, ma in terra anchora, ove la dicono Diana, e fina giù nello Inferno, ove Hecate la dimandano, e Proserpina, perch'ella è creduta scendere in Inferno tutto quel tempo, che à noi sta nascosta) (17).
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but even later, as we can see in essays on iconology, human virtues were usually compared to similar qualities in animals. Saint Ambrose in his Hexaemeron (VI, ch. IV, 17) affirms that the dog should be a model for Christians for the fidelity and gratitude it shows its benefactors. In the book Imprese pastorali di Mons. Arcivescovo Carlo Labia, Vescovo d'Adria (Pastoral Emblems of Mons. Archbishop Carlo Labia, Bishop of Adria] dated 1685, in “Impresa LXXX - Non valent latrare” [Emblem LXXX - There is no need to bark] (18) the dog’s qualities, such as “ability, fidelity, pity, constancy and gratitude” are listed as qualities that every bishop should possess to carry out his pastoral duty.
A wonderful example of two dogs, one black and one white, represented in this way, can be seen at the Tempio Malatestiano [Malatesta Temple] in Rimini. The Temple, designed by architect Leon Battista Alberti and commissioned by Pandolfo Sigismondo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, is one of the most important buildings of the Humanistic Age in Italy. This building is more similar to a pagan temple than to a Christian church, and it really seems a Neoplatonic monument. Valturio declares that the building’s iconographic plan was inspired by philosophy or rather “the most hidden secrets of philosophy”, which could be penetrated only by true experts.
Alberti started his work in 1450 and ended ten years later, following the condemnation of Sigismondo by Pope Pius II Piccolomini. The latter was a refined intellectual and an exquisite humanist "but since the Pope himself knew and shared the intellectual climate and symbolic values which are at the basis of Alberti’s edifice, he knew well enough how to interpret it, even “ex contrario” [to the contrary], and gave a cruelly exact and supremely efficacious interpretation" (19).
Defining it as a place of pagan rites and a temple “of infidel demon worshippers”, Pope Pius II Piccolomini used his knowledge for political ends. The object of my study is a fresco depicting Sigismondo praying to Saint Sigismund (figure 12) painted by Piero della Francesca in 1451, formerly situated in the Cell of Relics and now next to the altar. The interesting thing here is the presence of two dogs, one black and one white, on the right side of the fresco, crouching and with their muzzles pointing in opposite directions (figure 13).
Their presence is due to a specific allegory: the fidelity and gratitude of Sigismondo toward his guardian saint, here exalted in the depiction of these animals, always considered as symbols of such virtues. The dogs' colors demonstrate that Sigismondo’s fidelity is always alive, in daytime and at night.The attitude of the black dog that by the height of its head declares a greater grater watchfulness, indicates that at night the dedication of Sigismondo towards his saint required more attention, as the senses, as we know, tend to doze off.
Their muzzles pointing in opposite directions show that Sigismondo's devotion to Saint Sigismund is not only present now, but has always been and always will be: in the future as in the past. As far as I know, this is the first iconological interpretation of this figure of the two dogs in the fresco.
Proceeding in this study of the symbolism of dogs in relation to the Moon in the Renaissance, we find that they are connected to the uselessness of the strong excesses that are carried out under the gaze of this celestial body. Alciati’s Emblem “Inanis impetus (Futile effort) (figure 14 - Emblem CLXV, 1621 Edition) is very expressive:
“A dog gazes at the moon by night, as if at a mirror.
And seeing himself, he believes another dog is in the moon.
So he barks; but his ineffectual voice is carried away in vain by the winds,
and Diana pursues her course without hearing.
(Lunarem noctu, ut speculum, canis inspicit orbem:
Sèque videns, alium credit inesse canem,
Et latrat: sed frustra agitur vox irrita ventis,
Et peragit cursus surda Diana suos) (20).
In the Vieville Tarot it is a woman spinning under the Moon (figure 15). Although this image began in the Charles VI Tarot as a woman spinning under the Sun, in Plutarch’s essay on the Moon, she is the Fate Clotho, historially associated with the distaff, which combines the separate fibers into a thread: it is she who adds soul to spirit and sends the mixture to the earth to be born in matter. Plutarch writes, in his On the Face in the Orb of the Moon, “Of the three Fates too Atropos enthroned in the sun initiates generation, Clotho in motion on the moon mingles and binds together, and finally upon the earth Lachesis too puts her hand to the task, she who has the largest share in chance.391 For the inanimate is itself powerless and susceptible to alien agents, and the mind is impassable and sovereign; but the soul is a mixed and intermediate thing, even as the moon has been created by god a compound and blend of the things above and below and therefore stands to the sun in the relation of earth to moon” (21).
In fact the Moon, as the ancients knew, influences human moods and growing plants, the tides and human births. Cartari writes “Because the Moon is a humid planet, it sometimes accelerates birth by its influence and almost always makes it easier" (Poiché la Luna per essere pianeta humido affretta talhora con il suo influsso, e fa quasi sempre il parto più facile) (22).
And about the Fates, the same author affirms, quoting Varro, of these goddesses “They are assigned to birth and take care of it when it comes; for this reason, he says, the Latins called one the Tenth and another the Ninth, because the time of mature birth is generally one or other of these two months. But since whoever is born has to die, the third Fate was called “the dead one”, from “death”, for she was believed to put an end to a person’s life" (Siano state dette dal partorire, come che à quelle ne toccasse la cura: donde venne, he says [Varro], che i Latini ne chiamarono una Decima, l'altra Nona, perche il tempo del maturo parto, è quasi sempre à l'uno di questi duo mesi, nono, e decimo. Ma perche chi ci nasce ha pur anco poi da morire, fu detta la terza delle Parche Morta dalla morte, con la quale ella era creduta mettere fine al vivere humano) (23).
In the esoteric tarot of Paul Marteau, made in 1930, in the cards of the Moon (figure 16) and the Sun (figure 17) there are drops or tears falling to the ground, but with different meanings, as the author explains, justified by the position of the tips of these drops.
Marteau writes about the tears that come down from the moon: “"The tears falling to the ground mean that what comes from the earth returns to the earth and that this creation of man in the astral plane can fall back to earth and give a momentary fecundity; it is the ebb and flow of the influence of the astral towards the earth and the influence of the earth towards the astral; they complete each other. These tears, whose point is turned downwards, corroborate the feeble efficacy of this star on the earth, for what seems to fall as a fertilizing manna, on the contrary, becomes thinner, and their colors red, yellow, and blue mean that one should not expect to have more support on the material plane than on the spiritual or on the intellectual"
(Les larmes tombant vers le sol signifient que ce qui vient de la terre retourne à la terre et que cette création de l'homme dans le plan astral peut retomber sur terre et donner une fécondité momentanée; c'est le flux et le reflux de l’influence de l’astral vers la terre et de l’influence de la terre vers l’astral. Ils se complètent. Ces larmes, dont la pointe est tournée vers le bas, corroborent la faible efficacité de cet astre sur la terre, car ce qui semble tomber comme une manne fécondante, va, au contraire, en s’amincissant, et leurs couleurs rouge, jaune et bleue signifient qu’il ne faut pas s’attendre à avoix plus d’appui sur le plan matériel que sur le spiritual ou sur l’intelligence) (24).
Regarding the tears shown in the Sun card, altering the Sun card in the process, he writes: “The tears falling from the Sun, represented with the point upwards, indicate a fertile emanation, without loss as in the Arcanum of the Moon, but on the contrary, with a plenitude that is exalted in their approach toward the bottom. Their colors red, yellow and blue indicate that they take their point of support both as much on the material plane as on the spiritual or intellectual” (Les larmes tombant du Soleìl, représentées la pointe en haut, indiquent une émanation féconde, sans déperditìon comme dans la Lame de fa Lune, mais au contraire avec une plénitude qui s'exalte dans leur approche vers le bas. Leurs couleurs rouge, jaune et bleue indiquent qu'elles prennent leur point d’appui tant sur le plan materiel que sur le spiritual ou l’intelligence) (25).
Notes
1 - Thomaso Garzoni da Bagnacavallo, De’ Cervelloni universali, & ingegnosi - Discorso XXXIIII in "Il Theatro de’ vari e diversi cervelli mondani" (Of Brains universal & ingenious, Discourse XXXIIII in “The Theatre of various and diverse brains in the world”, Venice, By Fabio, &Agostin Zoppini, brothers, 1585, p. 65r,
2 - Hexameron 4, 8.
3 - Cesare Ripa, Iconologia, Venice, By Nicolò Pezzana, M.DC.LXIX. [1669], pp. 276-277.
4 - For a interpretation of the towers, using Plutarch, see the essay by Michael S. Howard, The Astral Journey of the Soul: Porphyry and Plutarch in the Context of the Medieval Cosmograph, in the section entitled “Plutarch’s Lunar Geography: ‘Hecate’s Recess’ and ‘The Gates’”. It is at link http://theastraljourneyofthesoul.blogspot.com/
5 - Natale Conti, Mythologiae, sive explicationis fabulaium [Mythologies, or the explications of fables], 10 Books, Venice [at the sign of the fountain], 1581.
6 - Vincenzo Cartari's Images of the gods of the ancients: the first Italian mythography, John Mulryan, translator, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Tempe, Arizona, 2012,p. 92. (While using this translation as a guide, what is presented here conforms as much as possible to the Italian). Originally: Le Imagini de i De de gli Antichi, published by Giordano & Co., Venice, 1571 ed., p. 116.
7 - If the egg symbolizes the origin of the universe, the lit torch and the sulfur are put as materials of purification.
8 - The Golden Ass, or Metamorphoses, translated with an Introduction and Notes by E. J. Kenney, Penguin Books, New York, 2004, p. 178 (Book 11, section 16). Latin text: Apuleius. The Golden Ass, being the Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius. Stephen Gaselee, ed., G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915, pp. 565-566.
9 - Le vere e noue imagini de gli dei delli antichi di Vicenzo Cartari reggiano. ... Cauate da' marmi, bronzi, medaglie, gioie, & altre memorie antiche; con esquisito studio, & particolare diligenza da Lorenzo Pignoria padouano. Aggionteui le annotationi del medesimo sopra tutta l'opera, & vn discorso intorno le deita dell'Indie orientali, & occidentali, con le loro figure tratte da gl'originali, ... Con le allegorie sopra le imagini di Cesare Malfatti padouano,…, [True and new images of the gods of the ancients of Vicenzo Cartari Reggiano. ... Deduced from 'marbles, bronzes, medals, joys, & other ancient memories; with exquisite study & particular diligence by Lorenzo Pignoria, Paduan. Next, the annotations of the same on the whole work, and the discourse around the deities of the Indies, East & West, with their figures taken from the original, ... With the allegories above the images by Cesare Malfatti, Paduan, Padua, published by Pietro Paolo Tessi, printed by Pasquati, 1615, pp. 513-514.
10 - Vincenzo Cartari, op. cit., p. 88. Original pp. 113-114
11 - Ibid, p. 93. Original p. 122.
12 - Ibid, p.98. Original p. 128.
13 - St. Guglielmo Choul, Discorso della Religione Antica de Romani [Discourse on the Ancient Religion of the Romans], Lyon, Gugl. Rovillio, 1559, pp. 73-74.
14 - Vincenzo Cartari, op. cit., p. 85. Original p. 110.
15 - J. Chevalier - A. Gheerbrant, Dizionario dei Simboli [Dictionary of Symbols], Milan, BUR, 1986, volume I, p. 103.
16 - Vincenzo Cartari, op. cit., p. 82. Original p. 106.
17 - Ibid, p. 88. Original p. 113.
18 - Carlo Labia, op. cit. in the text, Venice, By Nicolò Pezzana, MDCLXXXV [1685],p. 906.
19 - Antonio Paolucci, Introduzione, in Pier Giorgio Pasini, Il Tempio Malatestiano, [The Malatesta Temple], Rimini, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini [Rimini Savings Bank Foundation], 2000, pp. 9 -10.
20 - Andrea Alciati, Emblemata, Lugduni [Lyon], Apud Gulielmum Rovillium [Guillaume Rouillé]́, Sub Scuto Veneto, 1548, p. 230. Translation by William Barker, Mark Feltham, and Jean Guthrie, Department of English, Memorial University of Newfoundland, last modified 2005, at https://www.mun.ca/alciato/etext.html
21 - Plutarch, Moralia, Volume XII: Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon, etc., Harold Cherniss, trans., Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1957, 30 D, p. 114. Original in Greek, 1st century.
22 - Vincenzo Cartari, op. cit., p. 83..
23 - Ibid, p.236.
24 - Paul Marteau, Le Tarot de Marseille, Paris, Arts et Métiers graphiques, 1949, p. 78
25 - Ibid, p. 82.
Copyright by Andrea Vitali © All rights reserved 1993. Revised edition 2000