 |
Andrea Vitali - Michael S. Howard - Lunaea Weatherstone
VISCONTI MODRONE TAROT
Book published in English together with the reproduction of the Visconti Modrone Tarot deck by Lo Scarabeo Publishing House, Turin, 2019 ( www.loscarabeo.com).
cm. 18,5 x 12
pp. 127
The book is richly illustrated with numerous color photos
Scientific consultants:
Andrea Vitali
Michael S. Howard
From "At the beginning of Tarot" by Andrea Vitali
The Visconti di Modrone Tarot deck (also called the Visconti and Cary-Yale), is one of three surviving hand-painted tarots with Visconti heraldic features, together with the Brera-Brambilla and the Colleoni-Baglioni (also called the Visconti-Sforza and Pierpont-Morgan-Bergamo). The Visconti di Modrone family sold these cards to Melbert B. Cary Jr., whose widow, Mary Flagler Cary, subsequently offered them as a bequest, along with the rest of his collection, to the Yale University Library, where they remain today.
The cards, measuring 189 mm x 90 mm, are slightly larger than those of the other two decks, and are made from overlapping sheets of card stock probably pressed in a mold, with a background decorated, using a puncheon, with diamond shaped motifs bearing the radiant sun, emblem of the Visconti family. The suit cards are characterized by a silver background with floral motifs. The deck is incomplete in the number of Triumphs (i.e. trumps or major arcana), while, unlike other decks, there are six court cards: the two additional cards represent female counterparts to the male page and male knight, thus supporting the neo-feudal taste of the 15th century courts.
The deck, now incomplete, is composed of eleven Triumphs, seventeen court cards and thirty-nine numeral cards. Among the eleven Triumphs we find the three theological virtues in addition to the cardinal virtue Fortitude (Strength), whose presence leads us to assume that Justice and Temperance were also part of the original deck. The surviving Triumphs are, in addition to those mentioned above, the Empress, the Emperor, Love, the Chariot, Death, Judgment and the World.
Absent among the standard Triumphs are the Magician, the Popess, the Pope, Justice, the Hermit, the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man, Temperance, the Devil, the Tower, the Star, the Moon, the Sun, and the Fool: fourteen in all. Missing among the court cards are the male page and male knight of Swords, the king and male knight of Staves, the male page of Coins, and the female knight and king of Cups. The only missing card among the numerals is the three of Coins.
See more here at the essay by Andrea Vitali The Visconti di Modrone Tarot. One of three surviving hand-painted tarots with Visconti heraldic features at link link http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=823&lng=ENG
INDEX
At the beginning of Tarot ................................................ p. 8
Prof. Andrea Vitali
Iconography and Iconology of the Triumps.................... p. 23
Prof. Andrea Vitali
Allegory and Game......................................................... p. 62
Prof. Michael S. Howard
Reading with ancient decks........................................... p. 75
Lunaea Weatherstone
|