François Trojani

(1940-2023)

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Today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA, is the foreword and the description of the first emblem, the Misero, from François Trojani’s ‘Alchemical Commentary’, upon the Mantegna Engravings. Editions Arnaud Seydoux. Paris_1985. From page 7 to 11 & 13 to 15.

François Trojani (1940–2023) was a French scholar, an alchemist, and an artist deeply involved in the study of esotericism, hermeticism, and the symbolic arts. His works spanned diverse fields, including alchemy, abstract art, and metaphysical exploration, positioning him as a significant figure in bridging ancient hermetic traditions with modern philosophical and scientific discourse.

He was recognized for his alchemical studies, particularly his commentary on historical artifacts such as the Mantegna Tarot engravings, where he explored symbolic interpretations tied to the hermetic tradition. He viewed alchemy not as a primitive precursor to chemistry but as a holistic philosophy integrating matter, energy, and consciousness​. His most notable works include “Alchimie Grand Oeuvre et Don de Dieu” and “Ultimes écrits, une alchimie pour demain“. These explored metaphysical ideas, connecting spiritual transformation to broader cosmic and material principles​.

Also, François Trojani’s art reflected his hermetic studies. His abstract works attempted to visualize the interplay between the material and spiritual realms, often using geometry and abstraction to represent the intuitive and symbolic facets of existence​. (See link below)

His work remains influential today for those interested in the intersection of spirituality, science, and art. By revisiting ancient hermetic ideas through the lens of modern physics and metaphysics, he provided new ways of understanding humanity’s place in the universe, blending rational inquiry with intuitive wisdom. His contributions continue to inspire scholars and practitioners of both esoteric traditions and modern symbolic arts​.

On a personal note, I remember a visit in 1985 to the Hermes loge of the Masonic Egyptian rite of Memphis-Misraim (mother of our own loge, the Pillar of Egypt, I was a young member of – both loges being active at the time of Robert Ambelain) to see François Trojani deliver a presentation about the Mantegna Tarot followed by samples of his commentary upon the five engraved series from the book he had just published. I remember the warm atmosphere in the packed loge and the fraternal respect all the brothers (and the invited sisters of the Delta loge) manifested towards him after his talk with their questions & comments, and later the lively discussions at the fraternal meal that followed. The picture in my mind of a fresh set of his book placed on the desk of the venerable master of the loge is still with me after all these years…

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An Introduction

To ‘The Alchemical Commentary’

To pretend studying all of the symbolic aspects that the Mantegna engravings embodies is an undertaking that would get us far beyond the proposed frame of this work. It would have requested, as a preliminary, to expose what is meant by a ‘symbol’, an ‘allegory’, an ’emblem’ and an ‘archetype’. Therefore, we will only attract the attention of the benevolent reader to the problems raised by Symbolism per-se and the science of symbols. It would have been also regrettable, for the sake of the history of ideas, that some of these reasons that presided to the elaboration of this ‘Game of the Government of the World‘ at the time of the Quattrocento around 1465, wouldn’t have been outlined. We will then chose the word ’emblem’ to designate the whole set; even though, emblems are attached to a motto.

An emblem expresses general truths, of a philosophical, religious, moral and political nature, making sensible abstractions or ideas. Let’s remember that the emblem shares with the symbol its ‘figurability‘.

We will use the word emblem, at first and we will strive to explain all of the figurative details. Then, we will extract the symbolic meaning of the objects, gestures, animals, face expressions, etc., that are composing these emblems. Further on, we will link, through analogy, these highlighted symbols to those of Alchemy. Also, we will link these emblems to other tarot prints, though different by their emblems, but embodying similar symbolic objects. We will try to keep in mind the dangers that this sole reasoning by analogy may lead us to, as it ‘tends to make the isolated and particular object disappear in order to link it with an always growing number of objects, and at the limit of their tonality; sometimes up to the disappearance of the specific characters of the initial object at the heart of the global explanation’. (See here René Alleau’s publication: ‘La science des symboles’ page 87).

In the field of symbolism, there is no general code for deciphering, but only individual and particular codes. The reader will take in account our own projections of the symbolic key, itself, we used in proceeding to the inventory of all of the emblems designed by Mantegna.

‘A symbol doesn’t signify, it evokes and focalizes, assembles and concentrate in an analogical and polyvalent manner, a multitude of meanings that cannot be reduced to one meaning, nor to a few only; for instance, a musical note does not have a determined meaning once and for all; even though it is not random; it is also in a narrow manner as depending of its rhythmic and sound context than the symbol is in a mythical and ritual context, often associated with it.‘ (René Alleau, ‘La science des symboles‘).

We will not also  step in the hermeneutical conflicts of the learned specialists of iconology, both ancient or modern. We ought to precise that, despite all the competing schools of thoughts, the last fifty years have  witnessed the apparition of a proper definition of the principles & methods of a science, iconology, which is valued for its sound method of investigation, allowing us to extract and to highlight the sacred functions to better apprehend and manifest, first the existence of an order of the universe, and second, of a possible analogy or homology between a partial order and a complete order.

The tarots of Mantegna offer a wide range of symbols and analogies that we will use, without claiming to have exhausted them all; for instance, we will see, by comparing them, that the emblems displaying a wand, a dragon, a globe or a sphere, or those in which the faces are particularly directed towards the right or the left, do shine light upon each other. But, beware, as soon as we have established a momentum and lifted the first veil, we are then obliged to undo this very trail of thoughts, to complete it with another, then to even leave everything and try another path, and so on, in order to continue to progress towards the making of an realistic interpretation. This is, in a nutshell, the opposing steps of the deciphering process.

Alchemy seems not, at first glance, to appear explicitly in the 5 bountiful engraved series that we have here; there are no  alchemical formulas allowing the non-expert to identify them. It is not here the likes of a mute book exclusively devoted to Alchemy such as the Mutus Liber or Barchusen’s figures, for instance. But, when interrogated, the emblem, sometimes, answer in the most extraordinary and precise way to the questions the alchemist asks himself. Not all of the emblems refer to alchemy; it would make these very subtly veiled series say of an interpretation of the world, typical of our epoch, and from a different cultural context, which it certainly does not share. But, Mercury, Strength, Apollo, Thalia, for instance, are as many emblems we could very well see belonging to the engravings of Basil Valentine’s Twelve keys, or ones displayed in the many Philosophical dwellings. Also, other interpretations are possible: historical, geometrical, moral, religious, astrological or magical.

They would make us digress too much from the frame of this little monograph and we will stick to the alchemical interpretation, in conformity with the time these emblems were made and with their traditional context. I wish to highlight also, in passing, that the alchemical and magical influences of the epoch of the Quattrocento have barely been touched upon, historically speaking, not only from the point of view of sciences & techniques, but also in connection with artworks & emblems.

There is one question left to us to ask ourselves, which is to know whether a determined and illuminated will has directed the composition of these emblems, and has also guided the hand of the engraver (or engravers) that remained anonymous, towards a properly alchemical symbolism; was he himself initiated to a scholarly society, or was it rather an individual and free inspiration of a sacred order at the human genius level, revealed through the medium of art? We cannot answer to this question in a precise manner, and it is better like this…

Man himself and the symbols that pierce through him, that he carries or manipulates, leave the frames historical and cultural rationality are too eager to confine, define and explain, or even exploit them. ‘Ceaselessly we overestimate the events of the waking state, and it is probable that the thinkable is dependent of the unthinkable, as close as the audible to the inaudible, the visible to the invisible.’ (René Alleau’s publication: ‘La science des symboles’).

There is neither a unique order of the truth, nor a horizontal continuity without any discontinuation linking the present to the past. It isn’t about a flawless transmission. The poet, the painter, the engraver, the creator of symbols and myths, are connected in a time out of time. It would be a pity to be exclusively otherwise. It is through the symbols intrinsic to his art, that the alchemist connects to its remote past, like the artist, more than an initiate claiming lineage to a group or a master. Therefore, I have felt, from the very first time I have examined these emblems, a great sympathy towards this (these) mysterious engraver(s) and this symphony of symbols, eager to remain vigilant and to not interfere with its natural flow & sequence, and to not manifest in an untimely manner; I wish to simply communicate an emotion.

In order to facilitate the reading, I will start my analysis of the emblems with the first engraving-by following the numerical order of the deck: Misero. The unfolding will be a step by step approach, word to word, but the alchemical process will still remain veiled, certainly, like the emblem attributed to Logic is suggesting us:

A young woman holds in her left hand a dragon covered with a transparent veil, decorated  with little flowers and grass motives; she seems to perceive it through the transparent veil with a non-dissimulated astonishment. Her right shoulder is dissimulated by a shell similar to those we see on the top of columns. The mathematic of her emotion and movements remain secret,  inner and saintly, like the twenty-fifth emblem, mathematics, suggests, the only one whose head is surrounded by a halo, like a necessary sanctification or an illumination was prior needed, for quite a trivial operation counting small coins consists in.

It is such a clear warning that we will place here, in the spotlight. It is a holy accounting of the Great Work’s gold and silver, and a spiritual light is directing it; also, it suggests, as it would be needed, the transfigured aspect of this quintessential gold which is apparent with the five coins in her hands. Her caput, or head is crowned with a halo, a remembrance of the role played in the laboratory by this same caput in the acquisition of the gold of the wise, our gold. As a last resort, this emblem suggest the price to pay. But, we will come back to it at an opportune time.

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The First Series:

The Hierarchy of Society & The Human Condition

I-MISERO

(the beggar)

Let’s take back the order and see the surprises that the first emblem has in its bag, the Misero. It is the poorest among the poor, certainly a vagrant, almost naked; he rests his head-with its bald skull accentuating the apparent destitution-on his right hand, which holds a staff poorly trimmed. He is surrounded by two parched trees, as bare as his skull. But, by a foreground effect, probably desired by the artist, Misero appears taller than the trees. He is almost a giant. He appears in a deep meditative state, or a profound distress; he does not care about the jumping dog that is scratching the calf of his left leg and about to bite him. In the back ground, the ruins of what was before a house is drawn. A  few and rare grass have grown on the wall that testifies of a lost splendor.

The emblem, which bears a resemblance with the Le Mat of the Tarot of Marseille, is closer to the very tall woodsman, also called by the locals, the Sphinx of Thiers, Fulcanelli discusses in his ‘The Philosophical Dwellings‘, page 301.

The Misero, also a tall man-here beardless and a naked head-is quite absent from the surrounding  reality, leaning on a staff that is toped by a head, his in our case. This emblem is the result of a will, clear and thoughtful and this staff, a tree of knowledge, is a true scepter. In fact, this Misero is a wise man; he is the natural man  and his wisdom has led him to despise the frivolities of the common man. He dominates, from the surrounding ruins, and, in fact, turns his back on them; he is an illuminati, a silent one, a vagrant. His arms are crossed on his chest, the right arm on his left arm, in the shape of an X, forms the sign called the Good Shepherd.

He is the slain lamb existing since the beginning of the world but stripped of it. Also, the X formed by his arms, more than being the sign of the crucible and of glass, is the symbol of the ammoniac salt (ammonium chloride), or the salt of Ammon, our Harmoniac Salt: ‘It is the sign, the seal, that reveals to Man, some superficial lineaments, the virtues of the philosophical substance.’ (Fulcanelli, ‘The Philosophical Dwellings’, page 250). It is also through a determined will that the thumb and the little fingers, symbols of the Moon and of Mercure, are here highlighted in both hands, in a gesture close to what India calls the Mudras, or hand gestures signing technique.

This Fool is the humanized emblem of Hermes’ children. He is also the emblem of Mercury under one of his aspects, the Fool of Nature and the Mystical Hero. He is the humanization of our subject, Alchemy, which presents itself in a repulsive and miserable aspect, a nothing, in which everything the alchemist needs is contained.

Let’s continue to examine our emblem with an more acute attention. The stone walls are crumbling-of which an angle is opening and the other one is closing-covered with little grass, is hinting-without any ambiguity-to this Salt that grows upon walls, like Etheilla says: ‘upon old walls‘. When we glance further in the emblem, our attention is concentrated now on the ground; there we can perceive, three little stars, similar to the stars in the beck of the birds, in the Mutus Liber, which is the designation for the Harmoniac Salt.  The alchemist have played very liberally upon the different assonances of words. Hence, Harmoniac becomes armoniac or Harmonic, depending on context or the operation involved.

One of these little stars is located on the bottom left, just under one of the two dogs-a greyhound bitch- which raising its right back leg, scratches itself. Another thing to notice: the superposition, head, crossed hands and staff, is in fact the schematization of a caduceus, or a ‘Marotte’.

The starched trees are the symbols for the usual metals, reduced in their minerals and melted, to which the elevated temperatures made them lose the life they had in their natural soils. The salt on the walls, the old house in ruin, the three stars on the foreground, the dog scratching the calf of his left leg (a possible remembrance of the Griffin & the enraged black dog), the crossed arms forming an X on the chest separating or uniting the staff to the caput of the skull, the greyhound bitch: all these symbols belong to the alchemical Art. This emblem conceals still much more symbolic teachings, upon which we will  necessarily come back, while proceeding to the analysis of the other emblems of this very peculiar ‘game’.

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Original French

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I- MISERO

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Source

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