Italian Renaissance Art Works

Different Tarot Decks Designs

Tarot decks were first described in the early 15th century in relation to Martiano da Tortona who mentioned tarot-like games. The symbols on these early illustrations were Greek deities while the suits matched four types of birds, a pattern totally different from the basic Italian decks. These forefathers of tarot decks had only sixteen cards, but they surely enjoyed great popularity. Later, other tarot decks are described by Italian documents throughout the 15th century. The ideology and the symbolism of the cards were very impressive even then with social, heraldic, poetical and philosophical implications.

As for the oldest tarot decks ever preserved, they date from the mid 15th century and they were made on the special order of the Visconti family. There are sixty-six cards in the deck and they are displayed at the Yale University Library of New Haven. Another famous deck was painted by Bonifacio Bembo at the request of Maria Visconti, they are preserved with the exception of two who were either lost or never existed. These latter tarot decks are known as Visconti-Sforza and their design is very popular nowadays too.

Plenty of modern reproductions combine coins, cups, swords and batons with trump cards as the clear image of the classic iconography of the old times.

The number of initial tarot decks must have been small given the amount of work involved in the making and the painting of these miniature works of art. Tarot decks have survived from Marseilles, Egypt or Switzerland and in time they came to be associated with magic and mysticism. Occultism and magic fans were the ones to start reading the cards for all sorts of symbolic interpretations that have survived to our modern world too.

Tarot decks cannot be given a clear origin, yet, some scientists revealed that the etymology of the word tarot is Egyptian, meaning the royal road. According to tradition, Gypsies are said to have spread the tradition of card reading in the first place, but the exact period when tarot decks started to serve for predictive purposes is not clear. What we know for sure is that Eliphas Levi introduced the tarot decks in the English speaking world, initially for aristocrats and then among the middle classes.

For more about psychic tarot and tarot decks, check out our website at psychics4you.co.uk

Torquato Tasso Portrait Italian Photo Mugs Torquato Tasso. Portrait. Italian poet. 1544-1595. His works inspired many composers Monteverdi, Liszt, Handel, Byron. Campra, Rossini, Donizetti and others….

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