From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
Two of Swords
Meanings
A truce. Resolution of conflict, willingness to negotiate and compromise. Political savvy. Effective defence. A rival drives you to improve your skills and strategy, then mutual respect results.
Reversed (?)
Dropping one’s guard. Indecision, lack of concord, disputes arising. Take care to avoid unnecessary conflict and people who enjoy creating trouble.
Description
A young woman in a black coat trimmed with fur stands in a rural landscape on a moonlit night. She holds two swords, one resting against each shoulder. Around her neck is a golden crest featuring a two-headed black eagle hanging from a heavy gold chain. She wears a close-fitting plain black cap. A black and white butterfly flies above her.
This is Christina of Denmark, aged fifteen, in a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger. She was already a widow after a political marriage by proxy to Francesco Sforza, the Duke of Milan, hence the mourning clothes worn in this portrait.
Holbein had been sent around Europe to paint portraits of potential wives for Henry VIII's consideration. Henry was said to be in love with Christina based on this portrait, but his enthusiasm wasn't shared. She supposedly told the English Ambassador who came to offer Henry's suit that she'd perhaps have considered the proposal "if I had two heads." Henry's execution of Anne Boleyn hadn't exactly made him a very popular catch among the ladies of the noble families of Europe.
The "two heads" story may be nothing more than rumor: there's no evidence of it from the time. If she did say it, it's doubtful that it reached the vain Henry's ears as this portrait hung in his private chambers until his death.
Henry settled for Anne of Cleves as a second choice. Her portrait, as used in the Ten of Wands, bears a noticeable resemblance to this one. In an ironic twist of fate, Christina of Denmark married François, Duc de Bar, the abandoned betrothed of Anne of Cleves.
Artwork
- Sword hilt, blade: GENTILESCHI, Artemisia, Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1612-21, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
- Sword grip: VOUET, Simon, Magdalene, 1614-15, Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome.
- Landscape: NEER, Aert van der, River Landscape, c.1650, private collection.
- Sky, moon: POEL, Egbert van der, Seashore by Moonlight, 1660-64, Museum Briner und Kern, Winterthur.
- Girl: HOLBEIN, Hans the Younger, Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan, 1538, National Gallery, London.
- Chain: GELDORP, Gortzius, Portrait of a Lady, 1597, private collection.
- Double-headed eagle crest: DÜRER, Albrecht, Emperor Sigismund, c.1512, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
- Butterfly wings: BRUEGEL, Pieter the Elder, The Fall of the Rebel Angels, 1562, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.
- Butterfly head, body: KESSELL, Jan van, Insects and Fruit, c.1636-79, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
The clouds around the moon are less stormy....less clouds. Looks like a calmer sky. I really love the LE 2 of swords sky!