From Touchstone TarotTM by Kat Black
Ten of Wands
Meanings
A heavy load to bear. Responsibilities are weighing you down. You have taken on so much – perhaps it is time to share the burden before you cause yourself permanent injury.
Reversed (?)
Cast down your heavy load. Throw off the shackles of oppression. If you stay in a bad job or destructive relationship without any improvement, it is no benefit to anyone.
Description
A woman in a red velvet dress with gold bodice and trim holds a bundle of wands in her arms. Her face is impassive and her hands are clasped in front of her. Her jewelry is simple, although she wears an ornate head-dress of gold cloth.
For centuries, there's been a story that Holbein and Henry VIII had a falling out over this portrait of Anne of Cleves being too flattering. Certainly Henry didn't want Anne as his wife once she arrived in England. This caused a difficult diplomatic situation as he couldn't just send her back, but there is no contemporaneous information about just why. Perhaps she just wasn't his type. There's another portrait of Anne done a few years earlier by a different artist that shows a clear similarity to this one, and there is no record of anyone ever contesting the accuracy of a portrait of Holbein's during his lifetime, so just how she earned the nickname "the Mare of Flanders" centuries after her death is anyone's guess.
In reality, I think she was probably just a fish out of water. She wasn't accomplished in the arts or humanities as was expected in the English court. She persisted in wearing unfashionable, heavy costumes, didn't speak French or English and couldn't play music or read anything but German. She liked to play cards and drink ale.
At least they got along. She agreed to an annulment, for which Henry was grateful. Henry called her "dear sister" and she remained in England for the rest of her life. She got along well with his children, kept her head and lived longer than any of his other wives. We have very little information about her life, but she never married and I think it's likely that it wasn't a terribly happy one.
Artwork
- Wand: TIZIANO, Vecellio (Titian), St Christopher, 1524, Palazzo Ducale, Venice.
- Wand leaves: PONTORMO, Jacopo, Cosimo il Vecchio, c.1520, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.
- Cell wall: DÜRER, Albrecht, Madonna and Child (Haller Madonna), c.1498, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
- Woman: HOLBEIN, Hans the Younger, Portrait of Anne of Cleves, c.1539, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
- Silk tie: DÜRER, Albrecht, Madonna of the Pear, 1512, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Perhaps the appellation, "The Mare of Flanders", had to do with a braying laugh? It would not have been politic to say so at the time, and the reason for the name got lost. Just a theory.
You've got IT in the bag, it is time to delegate, delegate, delegate. All work and no prayer makes for a really dull afternoon.